**The Eurosceptic Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, says he wants his country to have an exemption from a key EU charter before he will sign the Lisbon Treaty.**Mr Klaus demanded an opt-out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, similar to opt-outs agreed previously for the UK and Poland.
The demand threatens a further delay over the treaty, correspondents say.
Poland’s president is expected to sign the treaty on Saturday. That would leave only Mr Klaus still to sign.
Mr Klaus is reported to have raised fears about property claims by Germans expelled from the then Czechoslovakia after World War II.
On Thursday Mr Klaus had called for a Czech “footnote” to be added to the treaty, without specifying what it was. He held talks in Prague on Friday with the president of the European Parliament, Jerzy Buzek.
After the meeting, Mr Buzek said “probably it is the same position, the same arrangement as it is now for Poland and Great Britain” - countries which negotiated opt-outs from the EU charter.
The Lisbon Treaty is aimed at streamlining EU institutions, to improve decision-making in the enlarged 27-nation bloc.
The treaty refers to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which covers a wide range of EU citizens’ rights and will become legally binding once Lisbon enters into force. That cannot happen unless all 27 member states ratify the treaty.
Mr Klaus has also said he will not sign the treaty until the Czech Constitutional Court rules on a new legal complaint against it, lodged by senators allied to him.
The Czech parliament has already approved the treaty.