Czech President Klaus Signs, EU Lisbon Treaty Ratified

Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus has signed EU's Lisbon Treaty, thus completing its long-awaited ratification.

This has been announced by Klaus himself Tuesday afternoon, BGNES reported.

The news comes just hours after it became clear that the Czech Constitutional Court had ruled that the EU Reform Treaty was compatible with the Czech Constitution.

"I expected the Court's ruling, and I respect it even though as a whole I disagree with it. With the entering into force of the Lisbon Treaty, the Czech Republic stops being a sovereign state," Klaus declared on the Czech National TV.

His signature of the Lisbon Treaty ratification comes after last week the EU Council granted the Czech Republic an opt-out from the Charter of basic rights. This is when he promised he would sign the Lisbon Treaty bill into law if the Court's ruling was positive.

Alongside a number of institutional reforms of the EU architecture, the Lisbon Treaty is introducing the positions of President of the EU and of High Representative on Foreign Policy.