The Prime Minister has welcomed the decision by the President of the Czech Republic to sign the Lisbon Treaty, which completes the process of ratification. The treaty will now come into force at the start of next month.

The Czech Republic was the last European Union country to sign the treaty.

In a statement released this afternoon, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the decision by President Vaclav Klaus marks an “important and historic” step for Europe.

The PM said:

“Today is a day when Europe looks forward, when it sets aside years of debate on its institutions, and moves to take strong and collective action on the issues that matter most to European citizens: security, climate change, jobs and growth.”

Foreign Office Minister for Europe Chris Bryant also welcomed the news that the Czech constitutional court has ruled that the Lisbon Treaty is in line with the Czech constitution.

He said:

"We welcome this morning's news that the Czech constitutional court has ruled that the Lisbon Treaty is in line with the constitution of the Czech Republic. There is now no obstacle to President Klaus completing Czech ratification, following the agreement reached at last week's European Council. We now look forward to the speedy ratification of the Lisbon Treaty by the Czech Republic.
 
"The Treaty is good for Britain. We need the EU to be far more effective on the world stage and to be more efficient in the way it does business. Every other government in Europe is looking forward to the end of this decade of navel gazing so the EU can focus on the real issues that matter for families: jobs and growth, security and tackling climate change."

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