PRAGUE, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Czech President Vaclav Klaus said on Friday that he will not raise any more conditions for his signature on the Lisbon Treaty.

    The president stressed he is satisfied with an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights for the Czech Republic that was negotiated on Thursday, adding that he demanded this opt-out because of fear that ethnic Germans might claim the property confiscated from them under decrees of former Czechoslovak president Eduard Benes after World War Two.

    "I see this result as the maximum possible and I am not going to raise any further conditions for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty," he said.

    Czech Republic is the last remaining country to give the green light to the treaty, which will mean a step further in unifying European Union.

    But Klaus has to wait with much awaited signature, till Constitutional Court, whose ruling is expected on November 3, approves the treaty.

    While Klaus's move was applauded by many majority of Czech media and by the Civic Democratic Party, Social Democratic Party chairman Jiri Paroubek criticized the government the wording of the opt-out. In his opinion, Czech citizens were deprived of some new social rights the EU Charter could give them. Trade unions speaker Vit Samek even threatened to stage demonstrations or a nationwide strike against it.

    A group of Czech lawyers accused Klaus of circumventing parliament during the negotiations. They claim opt-out may not be legitimate. Social Democrat Jan Hamacek said that opt-out was superfluous and Klaus just wanted to score a victory in his fight against EU administration.　

EU summit removes last political hurdle for Lisbon Treaty

    BRUSSELS, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- European Union leaders removed one of the last hurdles facing the reformed Lisbon Treaty after giving the Czech Republic an opt-out in relation to the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

    The summit agreed to grant the Czechs the exemption in a manner that was acceptable to neighboring countries, EU presidency Sweden's Prime Minsiter Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters after the first session of the two-day summit.  Full story