The EU Presidency has welcomed Czech president Vaclav Klaus’s acceptance of a proposal on an opt-out clause on the Lisbon Treaty, European Council president and Swedish prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said on October 23 2009.

Klaus has been holding out against signing the treaty, even though both houses of the Czech Republic’s parliament have approved it. The treaty is also being challenged by a group of senators in the Czech constitutional court, which is due to hold a public hearing on the matter on October 27.

Matters recently became more complicated when Klaus said that he wanted an opt-out clause appended to the version of the Lisbon Treaty to be presented to him for signature.

He made the request because of his concerns, he said, that the treaty could open the way for property claims by ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War 2.

Sweden, as the current holder of the rotating presidency of the EU, has been engaged in contacts with Czech authorities and other EU states to work out a deal.

 On October 23, Klaus’s office said in a statement that he had received a proposal from the Swedish EU presidency "in response to his request relating to the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Czech Republic. This proposal corresponds to the president's expectations and he can continue to work with it".

Reinfeldt said that he welcomed the statement by Klaus.

"The (EU) Presidency will continue to work with this in view of next week's European Council," Reinfeldt said on October 23.