Czech court rules Lisbon Treaty can be signed

The Mole: Cameron must come up with an alternative to his ‘cast iron’ referendum promise

LAST UPDATED 9:43 AM, NOVEMBER 3, 2009

Well, that's it. The Czech constitutional court has ruled - as everyone said it would - that the Lisbon Treaty is in line with the country's constitution, and President Vaclav Klaus now has no option but to ratify it.

Which means the treaty can be signed into European law at a meeting in Brussels next week, and a EU president and foreign secretary appointed as soon as the union's prime ministers can agree on which of various Euro-suits to pick. Likeliest contenders are Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, former Finnish PM Paavo Lipponen and Luxembourg PM Jean-Claude Juncker.

Tony Blair still isn't totally out of the picture, but it is very unlikely he will be chosen given the unease in Angela Merkel's camp in particular, and the general feeling that his support of the Iraq war can never be forgiven. Gordon Brown and Lord Mandelson are still pushing for Blair, but with little chance of success.

Britain's best hope of a home-grown contender for a senior role remains David Miliband for EU foreign secretary, if he can bring himself to forget about domestic politics for the next four or five years. Many of his supporters, in the media and in Westminster, think that would be a very smart move.

As for David Cameron, he has promised to make a statement tomorrow on Conservative policy. He famously pledged in 2007 to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty - it was, he said, a "cast-iron guarantee" - but now that Klaus's rearguard action has collapsed, that's impossible to fulfil.

No one is sure what he can say to appease the Eurosceptics - not to mention the out-and-out Europhobes - in his party. Any talk of a "retrospective referendum" - to enable the British people to say in effect "We wish we had not signed" - would cause so much damage to relations with Europe that it is surely unthinkable.

Expect instead a Tory promise to "repatriate" certain powers from Brussels to Westminster, and a 110 per cent commitment to hold a referendum on any future Euro-treaties.

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It's a sad for England and Britain when we have so little control over our own destiny. We need a general election now before we lose what is left of our dignity too,Is nobody listening to what the people want ?

Posted by John Jolley at 11:58am on November 3, 2009

'We wished we had not signed'? We the British people didn't sign anything. This self-serving totalitarian document is the political equivalent of a robber Baron's treaty for themselves and no one else. An exclusive bully boys/girls club for Prime Ministers and Presidents alike, to play geographical chess games with independently indigenous peoples as their pawns. This has never been a union of peoples since day one. It's the same old story of greedy, lying, power crazed politicians worming their way into power, lying through their teeth and in this case trying to rape (forcibly take) the British people of the few freedoms we have left. Well, we'll just have to take our freedom back then won't we? The clouds of war already hang heavily on this country's horizon. And the people will never forget that this whole hateful totalitarian dictatorship has been aided and abetted all along by a sly, scheming and wholly complicit mainstream media. To those who remember the Creedence Clearwater Revival song 'Bad Moon Rising', the lyrics are a metaphorical prediction of what I believe is going to happen in this country within just a few years, because the madness, treachery and greed of politicians knows no bounds.

Posted by Jerome Peter at 4:25pm on November 3, 2009

At the minimum he could press to have the accounts subject to proper AUDIT! Perhaps he might pledge to put future contributions into an escow account until the accounts are reviewed. Tax payers money in the UK would not be paid to organisations with financial systems in such disarray. It would be hard for the EEC to reject such a demand.

Posted by Don Hammond at 7:23am on November 4, 2009