Czech President Says Lisbon Treaty Is Dead

A quote from Vaclav Klaus, the president of the Czech Republic, in El Pais, 25 June 2008 (via EUobserver)

[The Lisbon treaty] cannot come into force. The EU cannot ignore its own rules. The Lisbon Treaty has been roundly and democratically rejected by Ireland, and it therefore cannot come into force. Any attempt to ignore this fact and make recourse to pressure and political manipulation to move the treaty forward would have disastrous consequences for Europe. […] Since the treaty must unanimously be ratified of all the member states of the EU and one of them has already rejected it, the final result of the ratification will be the same. With or without the Czech vote, the Treaty of Lisbon will not be ratified.