Final Word from Thursday, November 5, 2009

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Vice Chancellor Petr Hájek gave a fascinating answer yesterday to the question of how President Václav Klaus could have signed the Lisbon treaty while stating that the document would strip the country of its status as a sovereign state. Hájek told TV Prima that the Constitutional Court in essence ordered Klaus to sign the document and that Klaus, as someone who honors democratic principles, would never engage in civil disobedience. This is fascinating because one day earlier, Klaus had said that he "cannot respect" the way the Court articulated the obligation of the president to ratify international treaties "without delay." Klaus's office is now in essence saying that Klaus respected something that he had said he could not respect. What we are seeing seems to be a refinement after-the-fact of the reason Klaus signed the document. He didn't do it, as most people assumed, because the Constitutional Court found it to be compatible with the Constitution; he did it because the Court ordered him to do so.[Czech Republic European Union]