Parliament Asked To Reject New Czech Protocol To Lisbon Treaty On Charter Of Fundamental Rights
January 24, 2012 1:07 PM
Originally published by Andrew Duff MEP
Originally published by Andrew Duff MEP
In a report to be voted on by the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament this Thursday (26 January), MEPs are recommended not to agree to the request of the former government of theCzechRepublicto add a Protocol to the Treaty of Lisbon. The draft Protocol was agreed by the heads of government at the time of the ratification of theLisbontreaty in 2009 in order to persuade President Vaclav Klaus to drop his opposition to the treaty. The Czech Parliament never agreed to the Protocol.
The intention of the Czech Protocol is to copy the provisions of another Protocol (No 30) concerning the application of the Charter of Fundamental Rights toPolandand theUnited Kingdom. Protocol No 30 comprised one of the notorious 'red lines' of British Prime Minister Tony Blair who sought to limit the impact of the Charter on British courts.Polandjoined up to the British Protocol in order to persuade former President Kaczynski to add his signature to theLisbonratification instrument.
Rapporteur Andrew Duff (ALDE/UK) has examined the effect of Protocol No 30 and has concluded that it has caused political confusion and legal uncertainty over the force and meaning of the Charter. He cites in support a recent ruling of the European Court of Justice (Case 411/10) which dismissed the claim of Mr Blair that the Protocol meant that theUKhad opted out of the Charter. The British courts have not failed to deploy the Charter in litigation, while the Polish courts have completely ignored the existence of the Protocol.
Having spoken to Members of the Czech Parliament and Czech Constitutional Court, Mr Duff points out that there is considerable opposition in the Czech Republic to continuing to promote the idea of a Czech exception to the Charter, and that there are doubts as to whether the current Czech Parliament would in the event be willing to ratify the Czech Protocol. He also points out that there have been no problems in the Czech Republic caused by the mandatory force of the Charter in the more than two years since the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty.
Mr Duff argues that other EU states would be happy not to have to put yet anotherLisboninstrument in front of their national parliaments. He observes in his draft report that "the political situation may sometimes evolve to supersede earlier political understandings between governments".
The full text of the Duff Report can be found at http://www.europarl.europa.eu/meetdocs/2009_2014/documents/afco/pr/886/886583/886583en.pdf
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