Word: czechs
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...clav Klaus doesn't hide his scorn of the European Union. The irascible Czech President refuses to fly the E.U. flag over Prague Castle. He argues that climate change - targeted in one of the E.U.'s signature policies - is a myth. On his only visit to the European Parliament, in February, he bluntly compared the E.U. to the Soviet Union. So it is no surprise that the 68-year-old former economist should try to sink the Lisbon Treaty, which aims to overhaul the E.U.'s decision-making process and has been a decade in the making...
...With Ireland and Poland having signed on to the Treaty in the past month, the Czech Republic remains the only member still to ratify it. Last week, Klaus said he would not sign the document until it was rewritten. "I fear, and I am not the only person to fear, a deepening of E.U. integration," he said during a visit to Moscow on Oct. 14 to promote Blue Planet in Green Shackles, his climate change denial tome. (See 10 things to do in Prague...
...Because both houses of the Czech parliament have endorsed the treaty, Klaus is constitutionally bound to sign it. But he could delay that until his last day in office, four years from now. In theory, the president could face impeachment for refusing to sign. But both Klaus and his Bene? complaint have broad popular backing, and the country's technocratic government is trying to negotiate a settlement with the other E.U. member states...
...Across the E.U., officials are split on how to handle Klaus. Last week, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso called on Klaus not to raise "artificial obstacles" to the treaty, adding that since he had been elected president by the Czech parliament, he should "respect its views." Some talk darkly of punishing the Czech Republic, for example, by denying the country a seat in the next European Commission. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned of "consequences" if Klaus does not sign. But this could make a martyr of Klaus and stiffen his resolve. Others say the Lisbon Treaty...
...ratification linger until British elections," says Sara Pini, who heads the Brussels office of the Robert Schuman Foundation think tank. "No one can compel him to sign, but the E.U. could give him a reason to. This could be a stick, like threatening to deprive the Czech Republic of its commissioner, or a carrot of a prestigious commission post." But even that is no guarantee. Whether showered with threats or treats, Klaus may still prefer to be Europe's pariah...