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It is “stupidity” on the part of EU leaders to suggest guarantees given to Ireland do not represent a change to the Lisbon treaty, says the Eurosceptic Czech president, Václav Klaus. An agreement reached on Friday aimed at helping the Irish government win support for Lisbon in a second referendum does not affect the ratification of the document in other states. However, Mr Klaus told Czech Radio that a schoolchild would know the guarantees for Ireland do actually change Lisbon.

The Czech president, a fierce opponent of further European integration, said before the Brussels summit that the agreement with Ireland should be approved by the Czech Parliament because it changes the character of the Lisbon treaty. The Czech prime minister, Jan Fischer, disagreed, saying it was a “government type” international treaty and therefore did not need parliamentary ratification.

Both houses of the Czech parliament have voted to ratify the EU’s reform treaty. However, Mr Klaus is currently refusing to put his signature to ratification. He is waiting for the result of a legal challenge taken by Eurosceptic Czech senators, and also says he will not sign as long as Ireland hasn’t approved Lisbon.

As the countdown begins to the end of its presidency of the European Union, the Czech Republic has symbolically passed the baton to the incoming Swedish presidency – in the form of a barrel of beer. The Czech minister for European affairs, Štefan Füle, and former deputy PM for European affairs Alexandr Vondra made the presentation to Sweden’s ambassador to Prague, Rolf Ericsson, on the Vltava River in Prague on Saturday evening. The passing of the torch occurred against the backdrop of the end of the United Islands of Prague music festival, which took place at various venues on the Vltava.

The European Union summit in Brussels, chaired by Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer, called on Friday on the Iranian authorities to allow peaceful protests against the disputed presidential election. The summit also agreed on concessions designed to spur Ireland to ratify the Lisbon treaty. Leaders of the bloc’s 27 member states also supported the bid of Jose Manuel Barroso for another term as the president of the European Commission. The EU summit in Brussels is the last major event of the Czech presidency of the bloc; the Czech Republic will hand the presidency over to Sweden at the end of the month.

In related news, the Czech presidency of the European Union is likely to head an EU- India summit scheduled for June 29. Unlike the recent meeting of the European Union and Pakistan which was chaired by the Czech president, Václav Klaus, the EU-India summit will be held between foreign ministers.

The final summit of the Czech Republic’s six-month presidency of the European Union has just come to an end. Among the main issues on the agenda at the two-day meeting of Europe’s leaders in Brussels: the appointment of the next president of the Commission, new rules to oversee the financial sector, and - first and foremost - the future of the Lisbon treaty.

The lower house of parliament has overturned a presidential veto to ratify last year’s antidiscrimination act. 118 MPs across the political spectrum voted for the act, with the exclusion of the Communist Party. The new law is primarily intended to define when behaviour towards individuals is discriminatory and when not, and to emphasize equal opportunity. The Czech Republic was expected to pass an antidiscrimination act in 2004 upon entry to the EU, and is the last member state to do so. President Václav Klaus vetoed the act a year ago, saying it was unnecessary as basic rights were already covered by the constitution and other acts.

The Governmental Council on Human Rights is seeking to modify the act on same-sex partnerships to allow persons in registered partnerships to adopt children individually. The council announced its view after a meeting on Thursday that the current legal arrangement contravenes the constitution and perhaps EU law and should be repealed. As it stands, the Registered Partnerships Act does not allow persons in such partnerships to adopt. The Ministry of Human Rights however believes that this in effect entails a prohibition on individuals that is discriminatory as it is based on their sexual preference. The amendment of the act would not permit adoption on a partnership basis. The Registered Partnerships Act was passed in 2005 to allow same-sex couples many of the rights of marriage.

EU leaders are currently meeting in Brussels for the last summit of the Czech Republic’s EU presidency. Items on the agenda include the Irish government’s efforts to have the Lisbon treaty approved, and the appointment of the next European Commission head. This will be the first, and indeed last, European Council meeting chaired by the interim Czech Prime Minister Jan Fischer. Ahead of the meeting, I met European Affairs Minister Stefan Fuele to ask him about the Czech delegation’s preparations for the summit, and what outcomes he would consider

Czech diplomats were summoned by the Iranian government on Tuesday in light of the criticism Tehran has faced following last week’s elections. On Saturday, the Czech EU presidency expressed concern about alleged irregularities in Iran’s presidential elections. In a statement, the presidency also said that it was worried about the street violence which erupted after official results were announced. On Tuesday, Czech chargé d’affairs Josef Havlas was summoned by the Iranian government and told that ‘neither the European Union nor other countries are in the position to make interfering remarks against Iran’, especially, said the government, about the country’s recent elections.

On Friday, June 19th President Václav Klaus is due to celebrate his sixty-eighth birthday. Inside Prague Castle the celebration is likely to be dignified as befits a head of state. Outside the castle gates things are likely to be a little wilder. The president’s opponents and supporters plan it to have it out, right beneath the president’s windows.