May 6, 2009: Supporters of the European Union can breath a little easier this evening. Today all eyes were on the Czech Republic, where the Czech senate decided its country's position on whether to ratify the Lisbon treaty. The Lisbon treaty is the EU's answer to the proposed EU constitution rejected four years ago by French and Dutch voters. The new treaty will streamline the EU administrative process, especially by eliminating the single nation veto right for most decisions.

There has been considerable opposition in the Czech Republic to the new treaty, including the country's President, Vaclav Klaus. Their main concern is the fear that too much of the country's sovereignty will be transferred from Prague to Brussels. A no vote by the Czech Senate would have doomed the treaty, since all 27 EU members have to ratify it for it to take effect.

If the Czech Senate had rejected the treaty, it would also have been the second major embarassment for the country during its six month term in the Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers. The first embarassment was the "no confidence" vote for prime minister Topolanek, putting the country into transition mode until new elections are held. Topolanek is no fan of the Lisbon treaty – he once called it a "pile of manure" – but under the current circumstances he saw no other option other than to encourage his country's senate to ratify the treaty.

Topolanek's efforts paid off today, as the Czech senate approved the treaty. 54 of 79 senators voted for ratification, more than the 60 percent needed for approval. Today's result had been predicted yesterday by the economic journal "Hospodarske noviny" based on its own research. "Lisbon treaty will be approved, Klaus loses" its headline trumpeted.

However, even after today's ratification of the treaty by the Czech senate by a clear majority, one big question remains: Will Czech President Klaus sign the treaty? His signature is required for the treaty to take effect, and he has said that he will not sign the treaty until a legal challenge to the treaty in Czech court is decided and Ireland has ratified the treaty as well. Irish voters narrowly rejected the treaty last year, and at its June summit meeting EU members will exhort the Irish to hold another referendum on the treaty later this year.

With Klaus' refusal to sign the treaty unlikely after his country's senate has now approved the treaty, EU leaders breathed a bit easier this evening. German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, "That's good news for Europe and sends a strong signal to Ireland for the second referendum there. Today we came a lot closer to reaching the goal [of enacting the treaty by the end of the year]."