Jan Fischer, prime minister of the Czech Republic, has told EU leaders he fully expects his country to ratify the EU's Lisbon Treaty by the end of the year.

Fischer apparently spoke to European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso by videophone on October 7 and assured him that "everything is in place" to ratify the treaty.

Fischer's statement comes after voters in the Republic of Ireland backed the treaty overwhelmingly in a second referendum, nullifying their previous "No" vote of June 2008.

The Czech Republic, together with Poland, is one of only two EU members who have so far failed to ratify the Lisbon Treaty that aims to streamline EU decision-making and boost the EU's role globally. Lisbon cannot take effect unless all 27 EU countries ratify it.

Although the Czech parliament has already approved the treaty, a group of senators allied to president Klaus have launched a new legal complaint. The Czech Constitutional Court is studying a complaint against the treaty and Klaus has not yet signed it.

The 68-year-old Czech president, an economist and admirer of the UK's former conservative prime minister has earned a reputation as an outspoken maverick who misses no opportunity to oppose the European Union. Klaus has championed the nation state over Brussels and has refused to fly the EU's blue flag with gold stars at his official residence in Prague.

Politicians would like to see the Lisbon Treaty ratified as soon as possible in a bid to preempt any moves by an incoming Conservative government in the UK to reverse ratification of the treaty.