Lisbon Treaty Ratified Without Vote

On January 17, the Czech National Parliament has ratified the Lisbon Treaty, by votes of 125 MPs (Social-democrats 71, Civic Democrats 33, Christian Democrats 12, The Greens 4, The Non-partisans 5). The manner by which the Treaty was ratified is damnable and non-democratic. Citizens of the Czech Republic, whom the Treaty touches, have had no possibility to express themselves in referendum, and the political parties in the Czech Parliament had not in their election programmes, nor could they have, their attitudes towards the gradual centralisation of bureaucratic power of the EU administration at the expense of national Parliaments and governments. A legitimacy of any decision like this is doubtful and thus we express our principal disagreement to this act.

All citizens of the Czech Republic, not only their head representatives, have the right to take decisions on their future, which is affected by the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.

Our disagreement with the Lisbon Treaty still continues, because it drags us into militarisation of international relations, into bondage to United States and its adventures in the world, and it opens the path to constitutionalisation of both free market and neoliberal politics, and, by it, towards aggravation of the social conditions of EU citizens. At the same time it markedly affects and restricts state sovereignty of the Czech Republic.

We furthermore will continue in cooperation with Left parties in the EU, in the struggle against application of this Treaty. We appeal to citizens of the Czech Republic to remember the parties, which raised their hands for the Treaty, and to express their protests during the June election to European parliament.

Prague, February 18, 2009