CYIL 2010

THE QUEST OF THE LISBON TREATY IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC … In this article, I will comment on some of the issues related to the Treaty of Lisbon in the Czech Republic and offer some explanatory background. I will focus on the proceedings before the Constitutional Court, the debates and the approval of the Treaty that took place in the Parliament, the guarantees achieved by the Czech Republic regarding the EU Charter and the changes the Treaty of Lisbon introduces in the area of EU international agreements. I will not describe the whole substance of the Treaty of Lisbon in detail and will not elaborate on all of the significant legal and institutional changes it represents, since this has already been done by other distinguished academics and I could hardly bring anything new to their analysis. 5 Instead, I will try to offer a particular “Czech” perspective and describe some of the real problem areas, as well as some other purely artificial problem areas, from the point of view of the Czech legal order. II. Signing the Treaty of Lisbon and sending it to Parliament – the quest begins In the Czech Republic, the signing of the Treaty of Lisbon was approved by the government on 4 December 2007 6 and shortly thereafter, on 13 December 2007, it was signed by the then Prime Minister, Mr Mirek Topolánek, and the then Foreign Minister, Mr Karel Schwarzenberg, in Lisbon. 7 As the next step in the ratification procedure, on 28 January 2008 the government submitted the Treaty of Lisbon to the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic for assent to ratification. The Treaty of Lisbon represented a treaty within the meaning of Art. 10a(1) of the Constitution of the Czech Republic (hereinafter the “Constitution”) 8 i.e., mainly during the Second World War period when the Czechoslovak government functioned in British exile and the non-existing National Assembly could not exercise its legislative functions. Contrary to popular belief, only a few of those decrees concerned the legal status and property owner ship of the German and Hungarian population in Czechoslovakia, but all of those were issued between 1945-1946. Needless to say, these decrees are the most sensitive ones, although their effects were already “spent” in the past and they cannot produce any new legal effects. 5 For a comprehensive analysis of the Treaty of Lisbon, see P. Craig, The Treaty of Lisbon, Process, Architecture and Substance , E.L. Rev. 2008. 33 (2), pp. 137-166 or M. Dougan, The Treaty of Lisbon 2007: Winning Minds, Not Hearts , CMLR 2008. 45, pp. 617-703. A good analysis of the Treaty of Lisbon (series of detailed commentaries on its various parts / aspects) written by Steve Peers is also available on the website http://www.statewatch.org/euconstitution.htm. A brief overview of the main changes introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon can also be found on the website of the European Union: http://europa.eu/lisbon_treaty/glance/index_en.htm. 6 Resolution of the Government of the Czech Republic No. 1367/2007. 7 The Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister were authorised to perform the signing by Full Powers issued by the President of the Czech Republic, Mr Václav Klaus. Without his explicit consent, the sign ing would be in breach of the applicable legal requirements of the Czech legal order. 8 Act No. 1/1993 Coll., The Constitution of the Czech Republic, as amended. Art. 10a (1) of the Constitution stipulates: “ Certain powers of Czech Republic authorities may be transferred by treaty to an international organization or institution. ” This provision is known as the so-called “integration clause”, introduced by a constitutional amendment in 2001 (Constitutional Act No. 395/2001 Coll.), which enabled the Czech Republic to join a supranational organisation, such as the European Union, and share its sovereignty accordingly.

25