Ahead of her victory in the German bundestag elections, there was a boost for Angela Merkel who had devoted a great deal of energy into pushing forward the Lisbon Treaty – the September 25 2009 signing of the treaty in Berlin by German president Horst Koehler.
 
Earlier, both houses of Germany’s parliament approved legislation to ensure that the country’s constitution and the Lisbon Treaty were mutually compatible.
 
With German ratification of the treaty, the solution put forward in the wake of the European Constitution debacle, Lisbon has now been ratified by all EU member states except Poland, the Czech Republic and Ireland.
 
Irish voters, who previously rejected the Lisbon Treaty, go to the polls on October 2 2009 in a return match between the "yes" and "no" camps, and until the Irish have spoken, any number of matters remain on hold – from what the Czech Republic will do, further clarity on nominations of European Commission President Jose Barroso’s new candidate commissioners, among others.
 
The German move was a boost for the pro-Lisbon camp, with Barroso and European Parliament President Jerzy Buzek issuing statement welcoming the ratification.
 
Buzek said: "I strongly welcome President Köhler's signature as the final step in Germany's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. Germany’s ratification of the Lisbon Treaty is another significant move towards ensuring that the Treaty of Lisbon, which will make the EU more democratic and effective, enters into force soon as soon as possible.
 
"Germany’s ratification sends a strong message ahead of the referendum in Ireland on October 2," he said.
 
However, opponents of Lisbon charge that, among other things, it will mean an EU that is disproportionately powerful in relation to its individual members and even less democratic than critics see it as present.
 
If Irish voters again reject Lisbon, this scenario could prove to be one of the priority tasks for Merkel, who was returned to power on September 27.
 
Preliminary reports showed that her Christian Democratic Union took up to a third of the votes - the largest share of any party, the Voice of America reported.
 
Merkel indicated that she would work to form a coalition government with the Free Democratic Party, a pro-reform group that also did well in the elections, taking an estimated 14 per cent of the vote.
 
In Prague, Czech president Vaclav Klaus, an avowed Eurosceptic, has said that he will not sign the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty until the outcome of the Irish October 2 referendum is clear.
 
In turn, if Ireland produces a "no" vote and strengthens Klaus’s hand against Lisbon, this could possibly benefit Klaus’s reported allies in the UK, where David Cameron’s Conservatives want a referendum on Lisbon.