Vital Extracts from President Klaus's speech to Czech Constitutional Court

"The Lisbon Treaty thus starts a process at the end of which the sovereign will be the European Union that, through directives and another unilateral form, will be setting norms and rules for individual member states as well as the citizens of these states. The constitutions of the states will no longer be the hotbeds of the legal orders of particular member states. On the contrary, these legal orders will in such a situation derive their existence from the constitution of the European Union (whatever its name may be) and they will have to be in harmony with it. "It is particularly alarming that this fundamental restriction of the sovereignty of the Czech Republic and other European Union member states is not clearly and openly formulated in the text of the Lisbon Treaty and that it is not clearly marked as the intention and goal of the arrangement that this treaty is to bring. The restriction of sovereignty is tabled covertly, implicitly, it is encoded in unclearly formulated articles and provisions. The Lisbon Treaty, if it becomes effective, will empower European Union bodies - without the European public´s having any idea of this - to arbitrarily restrict by their decision-making the sovereignty of the member countries. This cannot be accepted. The deepening of European integration must not proceed covertly, behind the backs of the member countries´ citizens, nor may it be imposed on them against their will. This would be at variance not only with Article 9, but also with Article 1 of our constitution. The sole possible conclusion that we can draw is that the Lisbon Treaty is at variance with the principle of sovereignty of the Czech state. "Another, equally important element of the so-called material core of the constitution is definitely the principle of sovereignty of the people. "The people is the source of all state power," says our constitution. This makes the Czech Republic a democratic state. It is a clearly defined, historically authentic people, politically identifiable demos who is the Czech sovereign and who is the bearer of the sovereignty of the Czech state. The whole of our constitutional, legal and political system derives from his power. "That is why we should ask who is the source of the legal and political power in the European Union? It is by no means the people because there exists no "European people," demos. Power in the EU derives from institutions created on the basis of inter-governmental agreements or treaties. This concept of power is, however, at fundamental variance with the concept of state as the Czech constitution defines it. This gives rise to further questions: Would the European Union be just as a democratic institution as the Czech Republic is now after the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty? Does the European Union have a sufficiently structured division of labour and sufficient control and appeals mechanisms? Is its political system based on the free and voluntary establishment and free competition of political parties? Is it possible to replace the existing bodies of the European Union by electing the opposition? There would be a lot of similar fundamental questions. "If the Lisbon Treaty became effective, it would be possible through it to push through "from above," from Europe, even what no national parliament would ever approve. This would deepen the possibility to circumvent national lawmaking bodies which would fundamentally weaken democracy in member states, including the Czech Republic. That is why the Lisbon Treaty is at variance also with the constitutional principle of sovereignty of the Czech people. "I could continue. If the power of the Czech people is fundamentally restricted this way for the benefit of the power of European Union bodies, this will restrict in a chain reaction and to the same extent further fundamental principles of our constitution - the principle of the protection of personal freedom, the principle of the division of public power, the principle of the rule of law and equality before it and the principle of legal certainty. The Czech Republic could continue to ensure them only within the limits that the bodies of the European Union would allow it. "Another fundamental element of the doctrine of the material core of the constitution is that the Czech Republic is - under Article 1 of its constitution - not only a democratic, but also law-abiding state. Its essence rests in that the rules are given and known beforehand. The Lisbon Treaty is at variance with this principle not only by its unclarity, but particularly by the ambiguousness of its competence provisions. These provisions will be interpreted and executed by the bodies of the European Union that are famous for their tendency to interpret the powers of the Union as broadly as possible. Link