* Czechs, Poles last to ratify Lisbon treaty
* Polish president set to sign quickly
* Czech Klaus to wait for court ruling, may sign after
* Seen unlikely to delay long enough for mooted UK vote
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Poland's president Lech Kaczynski
looked set to sign the EU's Lisbon treaty within days of Irish
approval, and Czech counterpart Vaclav Klaus was not expected to
delay for more than a few weeks, politicians said on Saturday.
Irish voters backed the treaty in Friday's referendum,
government and opposition officials said as vote counting
continued on Saturday. []
Kaczynski is expected to add his signature to the pact,
aimed at streamlining the 27-nation bloc and giving it more
clout, soon after confirmation of a "Yes" vote in Ireland.
"The moment Mr. President knows the final and official
results, he signs it immediately," said Pawel Wypych, a minister
at Kaczynski's chancellery. "It won't happen over this weekend,
but it's a matter of days."
Klaus, who sees the document as a step toward a European
superstate where national states will lose sovereignty, has not
revealed his strategy but he is likely to yield eventually,
political observers say.
Both houses of the Czech parliament have approved the treaty
but a group of pro-Klaus lawmakers challenged the treaty at the
Constitutional Court on Tuesday, halting the process for weeks
at least. The court is widely expected to dismiss the challenge.
Klaus cannot legally sign the treaty before the ruling and
he is seen bending under pressure from home and abroad to sign,
said Alexandr Vondra, former Czech deputy prime minister for
Europe during the Czech EU presidency earlier this year.
"In case the Constitutional Court does not uphold the
complaint, he will respect the political and constitutional
reality and sign," Vondra told Reuters.
"I believe (he will sign) soon after the court verdict."
The Czechs will come under pressure form other EU countries
to ratify the document fast to allow the EU to start operating
under the new rules from the beginning of 2010.
Britain's Conservative leader David Cameron, whose party
leads opinion polls, has said he would hold a referendum on
Lisbon if it is not ratified in all EU states before an election
expected by May 2010, and Klaus could keep the door open.
But Stefan Fuele, the current Czech minister for Europe,
said Klaus would not hold out for that long.
"I am convinced that President Vaclav Klaus ... would not
tie up the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Czech
Republic with the wishes of any other member state," he said.
(Editing by Louise Ireland)
