EU leaders agree on Czech treaty demands

The European Union's stalled reform treaty overcame a crucial hurdle Thursday after EU leaders agreed to last-minute demands from the Czech Republic in return for the country's ratification of the ambitious deal, AP reported.

The treaty would streamline decision-making and bolster the bloc's role on the world stage. It would also create the post of a fixed EU president, a job leading European figures are already jockeying for behind the scenes.

"It's a deal," Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy said of agreement on the Czech demands.

Diplomats said EU leaders at summit talks here agreed to demands that clear the way for Czech President Vaclav Klaus to sign the treaty if the Czech constitutional court finds the pact does not violate national law. The court is expected to rule Tuesday.

The diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the agreement hasn't been publicly announced, said they expected Klaus to sign the pact before the end of the year, if the court rules in favor of the treaty.

Klaus, an ardent Euro-skeptic, has refused to sign the treaty until his country was an offered an opt-out from its Charter of Fundamental Rights.

The Czech leader asked for the option over worries of property claims by ethnic Germans stripped of their land and expelled after World War II.

Diplomats said neighboring countries like Hungary and Slovakia, both of which also feared repercussions over Klaus' demands, agreed to a compromise text that allowed the opt-out.

Van Rompuy said the Czech opt-out was similar to opt-outs offered Poland and Britain.

Klaus had used the demand for the opt-out to try to scuttle ratification of the treaty which he opposes. He fears the treaty would hand over too many national powers to EU institutions in Brussels.

However, pressure on him to sign intensified after he became the lone holdout when Irish voters passed the treaty in a second referendum earlier this month.

EU officials have said that the World War II laws Klaus is concerned about are in no way threatened by the new treaty's rights charter which only applies to EU laws.