Just under 50 percent of Czechs want Klaus to sign Lisbon ‘immediately’

Some 43 percent of Czechs think that eurosceptic President Václav Klaus should sign the EU’s Lisbon treaty ‘immediately’, suggests a poll conducted by the SANEP Agency and released on Monday. The poll suggested that 44 percent of Czechs believe that further postponing Lisbon ratification harms the Czech Republic’s reputation in Europe. Thirty-seven percent of those polled agreed with the Czech president’s current stance on Lisbon, while 19 percent said that they did not have an opinion on the matter. President Václav Klaus has previously said that he wants to be the last person to put his signature to the document in Europe. Now that Ireland has voted yes to Lisbon in a referendum held last Friday, and Polish President Lech Kaczynski has said he will sign the document, the Czech Republic will in all probability be the last country in Europe to ratify the reform document.