* 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
(Adds Czech President Klaus)
By Jan Lopatka
PRAGUE, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Poland's President Lech Kaczynski
looked set to sign the EU's Lisbon treaty within days, and Czech
counterpart Vaclav Klaus will likely bend to pressure and sign
after a pending court review, politicians said on Saturday.
Irish voters backed the treaty in Friday's referendum,
leaving the Czech and Polish leaders as the only heads of state
that have yet to ink the document before it can take effect.
[]
Kaczynski has said he would sign once the Irish approve the
pact, which is aimed at streamlining the 27-nation bloc and
giving it more clout on the global scene.
"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
delayed his signature and has not revealed his strategy.
Both houses of the Czech parliament have approved the treaty
but a group of pro-Klaus lawmakers challenged it at the
Constitutional Court on Tuesday, halting the process for weeks
at least. The court is widely expected to dismiss the challenge.
Alexandr Vondra, former Czech deputy prime minister for
Europe during the Czech EU presidency earlier this year, said
Klaus would respect the fact that it had cleared parliament and
sign once the court approved the treaty.
"I believe (he will sign) soon after the court verdict."
Vondra told Reuters.
When asked to say what his next steps would be, Klaus said:
"The question does not exist today. Today I have a ban ...
until the Constitutional Court releases something," he told
reporters after the unofficial Irish results became known.
BRITISH CHALLENGE TOO LATE
The Czechs will come under pressure from other EU countries
to ratify the document fast to allow the EU to start operating
under the new rules from the beginning of 2010, and appoint a
new executive, the European Commission, to replace the current
team whose term expires at the end of this month.
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 the treaty's critics hope Klaus will
keep the door open.
But Klaus said on Saturday the Britons were acting too late,
a possible hint he may not hold up signing the pact for that
long.
"I'm afraid that the people of Britain should have been
doing something really much earlier and not just now, too late,
saying something and waiting for my decision," he said.
Stefan Fuele, the current Czech minister for Europe, said
Klaus would not hold out for any British vote.
"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.
(Additional reporting by Jana Mlcochova in Prague and Gabriela
Baczynska in Warsaw, Editing by Alison Williams)
