"Lisbon Treaty on Ice"

Euractiv, here, has found somebody to interview in Prague who claims President Klaus is under Russian influence, an absurd allegation to any who watched his recent speech in the EU Parliament or read the interview in last weekend's Sunday Times.

A more interesting portion of the report is on the new power division in the Czech Capital on which the following is noteworthy:

Mirek Topolánek himself used to reassure Brussels journalists, when we asked him about the risk of having a leading Eurosceptic as president of the country that holds the EU presidency, that Klaus' powers are in fact limited. But this is not the case any more. Klaus might like to keep these powers as long as possible...

That's true. He will try to do that. He will, perhaps, appoint Topolánek again. But the question is whether Topolánek will be able to secure the support of the MPs who were against him yesterday. The truth is that the Lisbon Treaty is absolutely on ice. As the Lisbon Treaty has passed the Chamber of deputies and is now stuck in the Senate, the Senate holds the key, and also the president. The Senate is full of older MPs who are reluctant about the Lisbon Treaty. As for the influence of Klaus, it lies in the Senate, and the topic is the Lisbon Treaty.