Czech court expected to lift last barrier to EU treaty 

The Czech Constitutional Court is expected to throw out a complaint against the EU's Lisbon treaty on Tuesday, removing the last obstacle to its ratification. Skip related content

Such a ruling would allow eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus to sign the treaty, which will give the EU its first long-term president and streamline decision-making in the bloc of 27 states and nearly half a billion people.

The Czech Republic is the only EU member state that has not yet ratified the pact, which needs the consent of all member states to come into force.

Klaus is banned by law from signing it until the court rules on a complaint by Klaus's allies in the Czech upper house of parliament, the Senate, who argue the treaty would erode national sovereignty.

Lawyers have mostly dismissed the claims and predicted the court will declare the treaty in line with the Czech constitution. It has already thrown out a complaint against specific points of the treaty.

The court in the city of Brno, 200 km (125 miles) southeast of Prague, was expected to open Tuesday's session at 9 a.m. (0800 GMT) and release its verdict during the day.

Klaus long argued against the Lisbon Treaty, saying it would turn the EU into a superstate with little democratic control.

But he said he would raise no further obstacles to the document after EU leaders agreed last week to give the Czechs an opt-out from a rights charter attached to the treaty. Klaus says the exemption is necessary to avoid property claims by Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War Two.

If the court clears the treaty and Klaus signs it soon, as expected, it will come into force in January.

EU leaders failed to agree at their summit last week in Brussels on who the new EU president should be, and a special summit may be needed to reach an agreement.

The chances of the once-favoured candidate, former British prime minister Tony Blair, seem doomed after he failed to win an endorsement from the European Socialists, his Labour Party's allies.

No front-runner has emerged, but possible contenders include Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, former Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

(Editing by Andrew Roche)