Klaus' bluff

John Kerry is famous for being the presidential candidate who "voted against the Iraq war, before he voted for it." Václav Klaus could become the president who "didn't sign the EU constitution, before he signed it." Klaus told MFD that he won't attend the official signing ceremony for the new EU constitution, if it passes, but he refused to say whether he would later ratify (sign) it in his constitutional capacity as president. According to some interpretations, the president would be obligated by the Czech constitution to ratify the EU treaty if it passed in a referendum. Klaus could theoretically refuse to ratify it, or he could postpone the signing indefinitely, but this would represent an unprecedented constitutional challenge that he might lose. Klaus says he doesn't like "tough-guy gestures," but his comments about not signing the EU treaty are exactly that. MF Dnes