Poland Ratifies EU Treaty

By Hilary Heuler

Warsaw
10 October 2009

Poland has signed the Lisbon Treaty which aims to streamline the
workings of the European Union. This leaves just one more country, the
Czech Republic, to ratify the agreement before it takes effect.

In a ceremony Saturday,
Poland became the 26th country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty. Despite
his personal antipathy towards the European Union, Polish President
Lech Kaczynski signed the accord.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk explained the government's reasoning.

Mr.
Tusk says the treaty gives an added degree of security to the nations
that have suffered the most, and Poland is one of those. He says
Poland is now ready to be a responsible co-leader in Europe, and this
signature is proof of that.

Earlier, President Kaczynski had
said he would ratify the Lisbon Treaty only if Ireland did. When Irish
voters approved the treaty earlier this month in a second referendum,
he vowed to keep his word.

But President Kaczynski, a member of
the far right Peace and Justice Party, has long shied away from deeper
involvement with the European Union. Even during the signing ceremony
he emphasized that the EU should remain a union of sovereign states.

Opinion
polls show that most Poles support both the EU and the Lisbon Treaty,
but a small minority still believes that a more powerful EU means loss
of national self-determination.

There was a handful of protesters outside the Presidential Palace in Warsaw Saturday morning.

One
man is adamant - he says the European Union just wants to dominate us,
and to take away our ability to make decisions for ourselves.

Poland
is the second-to-last EU member to sign the Lisbon Treaty, which must
be ratified by all 27 member states before it can take effect.

Now
the only signature missing is that of Czech President Vaclav Klaus, who
has also expressed concerns about a more powerful EU. Mr. Klaus has
said he wants an exemption included to safeguard the sovereignty of the
judiciary before he agrees to sign.