"I welcome the statement by president Klaus. The Presidency will continue to work with this in view of next week's European Council", says President of the European Council Fredrik Reinfeldt.

On Friday the President of the Czech Republic issued a statement indicating that the Swedish Presidency’s compromise proposal meets the President’s expectations and that it is possible to work further on this.

The background to the statement is that the Czech Republic is the only EU country that has not yet completed its ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon. The Treaty is now being examined in the Czech Constitutional Court. After that, Czech President Vaclav Klaus must sign the ratification instrument before the Treaty can enter into force. At the beginning of October the Czech Republic demanded an exemption from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which is a part of the Lisbon Treaty. President of the European Council Fredrik Reinfeldt has previously said that the Swedish Presidency is working on the Czech Republic's demands.