Javier Solana Asked to Remain in his Job

Curt Here...

According to the article posted below, EU High Representative Javier Solana was asked today by EU Council President and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt to remain in his job until at least the end of the month. This is because there is a legal challenge in the Czech Republic's Constitutional Court over the legality of the Lisbon Treaty.

It is no secret that the Czech Republic's President Vaclav Klaus opposes the Lisbon Treaty even though it has already passed the Czech Parliament. Klaus is refusing to ratify the treaty until it is cleared by the Constitutional Court. According to second article posted below this may not happen tell the end of the year.

So with Solana set to retire Oct 17Th and with it being possibly tell the end of the year before the Lisbon Treaty is fully ratified by all 27 EU member states, we have a potentially serious leadership problem in the EU. It would seem as if Solana is happy to solve this problem.

My question over Solan retiring remains. What if the Lisbon Treaty does not get fully ratified, or during this time of uncertainty Solana is just asked to remain on and take over the new position of Foreign Minister to provide stability? This idea does not seem so far fetched and I would still be more than slightly surprised if Solana ends up retiring. My guess is that somehow, someway he is allowed to continue on and for the time being he is doing just that.

Stay Tuned.

Curt

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EU asks top diplomat to stay on with treaty under cloud

BRUSSELS) - Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt asked the EU's top diplomat Wednesday to remain in his job until the end of the month, amid doubts over when the bloc's reform treaty will enter force.

"I spoke this morning to Javier Solana," Reinfeldt told reporters in Brussels, "and asked him to stay on until the end of October in his capacity."

Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief and also top international nuclear negotiator with Iran, was due to step down on October 17, with his post to disappear once the Lisbon Treaty enters force, possibly next year.

The treaty is meant to ease decision-making in the expanding European Union and create new posts such as a longer-term president and a new foreign policy supremo.

But a legal challenge to the treaty in the Czech Republic and threats by that country's eurosceptic president not to sign the text mean the whole process is under a cloud.

The mandate of the EU's executive arm -- the European Commission -- also ends on October 31, and Reinfeldt said Wednesday that he was heading into "unknown territory" by being forced to take decisions with an outdated treaty.

Under the existing Nice Treaty, at least one country would have to give up its coveted EU commissioner job, while under the new package no one would be forced to do so.

"When we have the clarity on when the Lisbon Treaty will come into force, I will begin the consultations" on the new jobs, he said. "But we do not yet know enough."

http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/politics-diplomacy.ux
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EU warns Czechs about costs of treaty delays

European Union leaders on Wednesday warned the Czech Republic of the costs of further delaying the EU reform treaty as the eurosceptic Czech president holds out against the pact.

But Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, who held talks with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt and other top EU officials, said his country should ratify the treaty by the end of the year.

With the Lisbon reform treaty meant to enter force next year, Reinfeldt said the 27-nation EU is entering unchartered waters.

"We are moving into unknown territory," he told reporters after a video conference with Fischer.

"A lot of Europeans are waiting for this to be solved and we are trying to do it as quickly as possible," said Reinfeldt, whose nation holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the year.

The Czech parliament has approved the treaty, which is intended to ease EU decision-making, and Fischer opposes President Vaclav Klaus' campaign against the pact.

Fischer expressed confidence that Klaus would sign it once a Constitutional Court review of the treaty has been cleared up.

"I believe that everything is in place for the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty to be fully completed in the Czech Republic by the end of this year," he said in Prague.

"I am fully convinced that after we have the ruling of the Czech Constitutional Court, the Czech president will be ready to complete the ratification."

For the rest go here..
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/treaty-czech.uu