Lawmakers in the Czech Republic, the last member state to begin the process of ratifying the EU's Lisbon Treaty, were expected to endorse the troubled project to reform the European Commission on Wednesday.
Outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek, whose country holds the six-month EU presidency, urged the Senate to approve the treaty designed to streamline EU decision-making in the wake of the bloc's enlargement as opponents said the text should already be regarded dead in the water.
"We can't afford another shameful moment after the shameful toppling of the cabinet midway through the EU presidency," Topolanek told the upper house of parliament in one of his last major speeches before standing down on Friday.
The Czech Republic's presidency of the EU has been hamstrung by internal political squabbles but approval of the Lisbon blueprint would at least give a chance to put a bit of shine onto an otherwise tarnished performance.
Topolanek's ODS, the strongest party in the Senate, is split over the text -- it delayed its approval by the lower house for months with a constitutional lawsuit, lengthy speeches and postponements in parliament.
But the text is expected to make it through the Senate on Wednesday with analysts and politicians predicting that Topolanek has secured the necessary votes.
The treaty needs a three-fifth majority of all senators present -- meaning 49 votes if all 81 senators are in the room for the vote.
Topolanek said failure to approve the treaty would "strengthen the tendency to split the EU" between its older members and eastern European newcomers, who would moreover find it harder to resist Russia's influence.
"All countries east of Germany and Austria would then face the risk of weaker ties with the west and Russia's embrace," he added.
"A 'no' vote would (also) mean the end of one of our priorities -- promoting EU enlargement," Topolanek said, referring to threats from countries such as France and Germany to block enlargement if the treaty goes under.
The importance of the vote was underlined by the fact that all senators showed up for the meeting.
"The last time this happened was the Senate's constituent meeting" last November, the idnes.cz server quoted Senate spokesman Petr Kostka as saying.
The constitutional court ruled last November the treaty was in line with the constitution, but it only dealt with disputed articles of the treaty, leaving the door open for opponents to launch more challenges.
ODS senator Jiri Oberfalzer, who has vowed to file a complaint before the courts, described the treaty as "a dead document" and a "conspiracy of political elites" on Wednesday.
"We are trying to approve a document that people don't want," he said shortly before another ODS senator Richard Svoboda likened the treaty to "sterile euro-Heineken" unlikely to surpass in quality the famous Czech lager.
If senators pass the text, it will be up to staunchly eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus to put his signature to it and complete the ratification process.
Klaus has suggested he will delay ratification for as long as possible, following the example of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who is also reluctant to sign the treaty despite its endorsement by the Polish parliament.
All eyes will then swing back to Ireland, where the treaty is due to be put to a second referendum by November, following its shock rejection by voters there last year.
Germany's parliament has approved the treaty but its ratification has been stalled by a law suit brought before Germany's top court.
The text must be ratified by all EU member countries to take effect.
Czech Senate set to approve Lisbon Treaty
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Originally Posted by Visna
