Mr Klaus, who has been stalling on signing the new European Union treaty for months, told the EU's Swedish presidency yesterday he "wishes to add a footnote" to the document before he gives his final approval.
The latest delay to the treaty's progress emerged in Prague even as Poland said it would sign off on the treaty on Saturday.
Ending months of delays, a close aide to Poland's eurosceptic president, Lech Kaczynski, said he will sign the treaty at a ceremony in Warsaw attended by senior EU officals.
Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, said that Mr Klaus "wishes to add a footnote with two sentences".
He added: "As far as I understand it, he's linking this to the Charter of Fundamental Rights and then he wants the European Council to take a decision on this footnote.
"I told him that this was the wrong message at the wrong time, that it is very late in the process.
"There has been lengthy work on this treaty and this process and we could have had this earlier. And I think that this will be the comment of many of my European colleagues."
Mr Klaus's spokesman declined to comment.
The treaty has to be approved by all 27 EU member states to come into force, possibly next year, and time is running out, with the commission's mandate due to expire at the end of the month.
No comments:
Post a Comment