German-French diplomats raise possibility of President Klaus’ impeachment: paper

A report in the British newspaper The Sunday Times said that French and German diplomats discussed ways of overcoming President Václav Klaus’ last minute obstruction of the Lisbon Treaty. The paper said they raised the possibility of impeaching him or making constitutional changes to remove his veto rights in talks with Czech colleagues. Former Czech prime minister and Civic Democrat leader Mirek Topolánek has said in interviews that he has tried to convince other European leaders not to take retaliatory steps against the Czech Republic over its failure to ratify the EU reforming treaty since these would be counterproductive.

The Czech Republic is the last country to ratify Lisbon after Polish President Lech Kaczynski took the step on Saturday. President Klaus announced on Friday that he wanted a footnote inserted in the treaty guaranteeing that it could not be used by Germans expelled after WWII to reclaim property and challenge the so-called Beneš decrees. The President’s last minute demand does not have the support of the government and has been denounced by most politicians at home.