Updated: Czech President Klaus signs Lisbon Treaty

(Adds details, minister, PN, PL statements)

Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed the EU's Lisbon Treaty today, bringing into force the EU's plan to overhaul its institutions and win a greater role on the world stage.

Klaus was the last EU leader to ratify the treaty and his signature means the bloc of nearly half a billion people can pick its first president and a more powerful foreign representative to speak for it in global affairs.

The treaty is aimed at giving the EU a bigger clout on the world scene and making it more flexible. This is intended to match the rise of emerging powers such as China.

The staunchly eurosceptic Czech president signed the pact after the country's Constitutional Court threw out a complaint against the treaty earlier today.

"I had expected the court ruling and I respect it, although I fundamentally disagree with its content and justification," Klaus told reporters. "I signed the Lisbon Treaty today at 1500 (local time)," he said.

Klaus had been banned by law from signing the treaty until the court had ruled on a complaint by his allies in the Czech upper house of parliament, the Senate, who argued the treaty would erode national sovereignty.

ARGUMENTS REJECTED

The court rejected the arguments. "The judgment was unanimous; none of the judges filed a dissenting opinion to either the judgment or its reasoning," the court said in a written verdict.

The Czech parliament has approved the pact but Klaus long argued against it, saying it would turn the EU into a superstate with little democratic control.

"With the Lisbon Treaty taking effect, the Czech Republic will cease to be a sovereign state, despite the political opinion of the Constitutional Court," Klaus said.

Klaus had 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.

"It is now time surely that the European Union moves on, not talking about the institutional arrangements for years ahead, but talking about the vital problems that all of us face," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said after the court ruling.

"And that is creating jobs, creating growth, building a safer and more secure environment and building greater security for European people."

After Klaus's signature, the treaty will come into force probably in December, turning attention to who will be the EU's first president.

EU leaders failed to agree at a summit last week in Brussels on who should take the job, whose powers are still somewhat unclear, and a special summit may be needed to reach a deal.

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.

FOREIGN MINISTER'S STATEMENT

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg welcomed the ruling of the Czech constitutional court which cleared the path for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Czech Republic.

"This is a good day for Europe," he said,

"I assume that now the ratification process in the Czech Republic will be completed quickly. Europe needs the Lisbon Treaty to gain, at last, a new capability to act.

"It is high time to leave the discussion on internal reform behind us. Now the task at hand is shaping good, specific policies for the benefit of Europe’s citizens on the basis of the new treaty,” Dr Borg said.

PN STATEMENT

The Nationalist Party welcomed the approval of the treaty by all EU countries saying that the treaty would give Malta the sixth seat in the European Parliament. This, it said, was an important acquisition for which the PN had always worked hard and which would strengthen Malta's representation in the EP and in committees which focused on important sectors for the country.

The treaty also meant that there was to be a commissioner for all member states on an indefinite basis. Through the treaty, decisions would be taken faster and more effectively.

PL STATEMENT

The Labour Party said the signing of the treaty by the Czech Prime MInister should bring to an end a period of uncertainety in the history of European Union development. The party hoped there would be no more stumbling blocks and that the treaty would come into effect in the shortest time possible.

The PL said the treaty gave Malta the sixth seat in the EP which was to be filled by Labour's Joseph Cuschieri.

Now that the treaty was signed, all members states and European institutions should focus more on the Union's economic, environmental and social problems.