While the lower house of the Czech parliament last week approved the treaty (EurActiv 18/02/09), taking a key but not final step towards ratifying the text, Senate chief Premysl Sobotka told Czech media that before debating the treaty, the Czech upper house wishes to pass into law new rules that would prevent the transfer of national power to the EU without the parliament's consent.
These rules, which require amendments to the orders of procedure in both the upper house (Senate) and lower house (Chamber of Deputies) if they are to be implemented, are the brainchild of senators from the ruling ODS (Civic Democratic) Party, many of whom are vehemently opposed to the Lisbon Treaty.
Sobotka, himself an ODS member, indicated that the new amendments are a precondition of ODS senators accepting the treaty. Without the support of at least some ODS senators, the treaty cannot be approved by a sufficient majority.
The lower house is expected to approve the amendments to the orders of procedure in its mid-March session, while the Senate could do the same in April, Sobotka said.
