Czech European Constitution referendum
| National referendums on the European Constitutional Treaty |
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| Superseded by the Treaty of Lisbon (2007) |
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The Czech referendum on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe was expected to take place in 2006 to decide whether the Czech Republic should ratify the proposed Constitution of the European Union. Following the rejection of the Constitution by voters in France and the Netherlands, the Czech government announced that the proposed referendum would not be held.
The Czech Social Democrats, Christian Democrats and Green Party are strongly in favour of European integration, and would campaign in support of the Constitution, but President Václav Klaus is an outspoken eurosceptic, and refused to sign the constitutional treaty in October 2004 (most countries, however, did not send their head of state to sign). As in many if not most member states, apathy surrounds the Constitution in the Czech Republic, and most are unfamiliar with its contents.[citation needed] The referendum is expected to be legally binding on the government.
Referendum bill
On 9 March 2005, the Czech government approved a bill that would permit referendums to be called on fundamental issues relating to the country's internal and foreign policy, and be called by any of the following:
- A petition containing at least half a million signatures of Czech citizens.
- Two thirds of the members in either chamber of the bicameral Czech parliament.
- The government itself.
It is as yet uncertain whether the bill will pass. The opposition Civic Democratic Party has objected to the idea of referendums becoming a usual part of the Czech political system, and has instead motioned its own bill on a one-off referendum on the European Constitution.
If both bills fail to gather enough support, then it's quite possible that no referendum will be held and the matter of the ratification will be decided by the Czech parliament instead (where supporters of constitution do no have sufficient number of votes to accept the constitution, as of middle of 2005).