Topolanek's ruling ODS (Civic Democrat) party has been plagued in recent months by internal divisions over the Lisbon Treaty, most notably due to the high-profile actions of the party chairman, Czech President Vaclav Klaus (EurActiv 13/11/08). Klaus opposes the treaty, in open defiance of his party's official line.
Topolanek successfully saw off the challenge of Prague Mayor and Klaus ally Pavel Bem in a convincing 284-162 vote. With his renewed mandate, Topolanek is in a much stronger position to seek parliamentary approval of the treaty.
In a Prague weekend full of political intrigue, Vaclav Klaus - who founded the ODS in 1991 and served as prime minister for two terms before becoming president - resigned from the party, expressing discontent with its current direction: "These are not the policies with which I founded and led the ODS for many years," he said.
Klaus' resignation took place on Saturday and is likely to have been a calculated strategy to influence Sunday's leadership contest. With this clear statement of intent, Klaus effectively made the leadership contest a single-issue ballot, based on the Lisbon Treaty.
However, despite having seen his candidate defeated, Klaus may have other methods at his disposal to continue his opposition to Lisbon. He has previously threatened to refuse to sign the treaty, even if it should be approved by a parliamentary majority. The treaty requires the presidential seal for final constitutional ratification.
Czech political journalist Ondřej Bouda told EurActiv that "constitutional lawyers are debating what could happen if Klaus refuses to sign the treaty despite ratification by parliament, and they can't agree whether the parliament could in this case overrule the presidential veto". A more likely scenario, says Bouda, is that the decision will again be put before the constitutional court.
This week is a key milestone in the troubled journey of the Lisbon Treaty. The Czech PM has said he would prefer to wait until early 2009 to put the text to parliamentary vote, thereby buying himself time to win over the Klaus/Bem faction of his party.
However, the treaty may be put to vote as early as Tuesday 9 December in an extraordinary meeting of the Czech chamber of deputies, initiated by the main Czech opposition parties: the Social Democrats (CSSD), Christian Democrats (KDU/CSL) and Greens. Topolanek is known to be against such an early vote, EurActiv Czech Republic reports. In fact, the ODS may even block the discussion on the Lisbon Treaty in parliament, Marek Benda, an ODS deputy, told Aktualne.cz.
After the Czech parliament has discussed and possibly voted on the treaty, the Irish government is expected to unveil its roadmap for a solution at the EU summit in Brussels.
