**The Eurosceptic Czech President, Vaclav Klaus, wants a new two-sentence footnote to be added to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty before signing it, Sweden says.**The new condition came up during a phone conversation between Mr Klaus and Swedish PM Fredrik Reinfeldt, current holder of the EU presidency.
Mr Reinfeldt said the requested footnote was linked to the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Poland’s president is to sign Lisbon in a ceremony on Saturday, officials say.
Poland and the Czech Republic are the only EU states yet to ratify the treaty, which is aimed at streamlining EU institutions, to improve decision-making in the enlarged 27-nation bloc.
The treaty has a reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which covers a wide range of EU citizens’ rights. The charter will become legally binding once Lisbon enters into force, although the UK has an opt-out from it.
Mr Klaus has refused to sign the treaty until the Czech Constitutional Court rules on a new legal complaint against it, lodged by senators allied to him.
According to Mr Reinfeldt, Mr Klaus also wants the new footnote adopted by the European Council, the grouping of EU heads of state and prime ministers.
‘Wrong message’
“I told him this is the wrong message at the wrong time for the EU. I told him clearly it is his ink on the paper that counts and I don’t want this to delay the treaty going through as soon as possible,” said Mr Reinfeldt, quoted by Reuters news agency.
The Czech president told him he would sign Lisbon if he got the extra footnote and if the Czech Constitutional Court rejected the senators’ legal challenge, Mr Reinfeldt said.
“We need clarification on exactly what he [President Klaus] is asking for,” he added.
Mr Klaus’s demand came only a day after the Czech Prime Minister, Jan Fischer, said he was confident ratification would be complete by the end of the year.
The BBC’s Dominic Hughes in Brussels says EU leaders will see the latest objection as another delaying tactic.
They will be unlikely to go along with such a request, which runs the risk of opening up the whole ratification process once again - something they are desperate to avoid, our correspondent says.