Debate on when to vote on Lisbon ratification dominates start of Chamber session

A debate on when to hold a vote on ratifying the European Union’s Lisbon treaty dominated the opening of an extraordinary session of the Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday. While the Christian Democrats, the Greens and the Social Democrats have called for a vote on Lisbon to be held without delay, the Civic Democrats and the Communists would like to see the matter postponed for a second time. Discussions on when to put ratification of the EU’s reform treaty to a vote are set to continue on Wednesday.

Other key subjects on the agenda of the lower house session are plans to build a US radar base in central Bohemia, Czech military missions overseas and reform of the country’s health care system. The Greens have proposed that the subject of whether to allow the radar be removed from the agenda; they say before a vote takes place they want to hear the opinion of new US president Barack Obama on America’s missile defence shield project, of which the radar would be part.

Author: Ian Willoughby