The speaker of the Czech House of Representatives, Miroslava Nemcova, said in Prague on Thursday that she was in favour of combining the voting on the ratification of Croatia's European Union accession treaty with the vote on the Czech Republic's opt-out from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as part of the Lisbon Treaty.
"There are two positions. The Czech Republic has already announced that it will ask for its opt-out. We are now waiting for jurists' opinion and for them to say whether the vote will be combined or separate. I personally support combining the vote, but we will see what they say," Nemcova told press after she held talks with Croatian Parliament Speaker Luka Bebic in the Czech capital.
Croatia is expected to sign the Treaty of Accession with the EU in early December, which is followed by the procedure for its ratification in EU member-states, including the Czech Republic.
It is still not certain whether the vote on the ratification of the Croatia-EU treaty and on the Czech exemption from the Treaty of Lisbon will be combined or be held separately.
Preliminarily it was agreed in Brussels that the Czech exemption, which was requested by President Vaclav Klaus in 2009, be added to the text of Croatia's EU accession treaty so that it may be adopted in all EU member states.
However, Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg has recently said that those two votes will probably be held separately in the Czech parliament as those are two different kinds of contract.
The government led by Prime Minister Petr Necas, however, has so far advocated the merger of the voting on the two matters.
The opposition Social Democrats, who support Croatia's EU entry, oppose the opt-out for the Czech Republic as they believe that it would undermine the protection of Czech citizens' social rights.
Bebic said today he believed that Croatia's treaty would be ratified on time regardless of the outcome of internal developments on the Czech political scene, as all political parties in the Czech Republic supported Croatia's admission to the EU.
"We are familiar with those specific matters and the reservations which the Czech Republic has in its relationship with the EU. In the event of a combined vote, there may be certain delays, but I believe that the process of ratification will be completed on time both in the lower and in the upper house of the Czech Parliament," Bebic said.
Nemcova said that the Czech Republic had supported Croatia since the first day of the accession negotiations and it would keep doing so.
After his meeting with Nemcova, Bebic said that their talks had focused on areas where bilateral cooperation could be broadened such as investments into the economy, energy, infrastructure and tourism.
Bebic arrived in Prague this morning for a two-day official visit to the Czech Republic. He is to meet with Prime Minister Necas and the speaker of the upper house, Milan Stech.
