The Czech Republic did not want a fixed one-year deadline to be set for the new reform European treaty's ratification, the Czech news agency CTK quoted Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra as saying on Thursday.
It would be too short a period and possible confusions could complicate Czech EU presidency, Vondra said at the meeting of the Czech lower house committee for EU affairs.
One of the alternatives considered reckons with a 12-month period for the treaty to be ratified by all 27 member countries so that it can come into force as of January 1, 2009.
The Czech Republic will preside the EU in the first half of 2009.
Vondra said that one year is a "record pace" for the ratification, which he considered hardly feasible.
In the previous years, similar procedures in the then member states took up 18 to 24 months on average.
The Czechs and the Swedes, whose presidency will follow the Czech, want the EU countries to agree that the treaty will come into force in the moment it is ratified by all member states, Vondra said.
"We ascribe a considerable weight to this provision in the treaty. We don't want to improvise our presidency," Vondra pointed out.
He said the EU's top leaders are expected to sign the draft treaty at the summit in December. Some parts of the document are still to be negotiated about until then.
The reform EU treaty is to replace the stalled European constitution.
According to Czech diplomats, the new draft still contains a number of points that need to be further specified.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article