Czech President Klaus "won't obstruct EU treaty ratification"

( dpa ) - Eurosceptic Czech President Vaclav Klaus said Tuesday that he will "not complicate and not obstruct" the ratification of the European Union's reform treaty.

"As a president I respect that the treaty has a majority support in the Czech Republic. I will not obstruct its ratification," CTK news agency cited Klaus as saying after a Vienna meeting with his Austrian counterpart Heinz Fischer.

The so-called Lisbon Treaty is aimed at reforming the EU institutions in order to streamline decision-making in the enlarged 27-member bloc.

While Fischer said that Austria plans to ratify the treaty before summer, Klaus told reporters that the Czech Republic will likely do so later in the year.

Klaus, who said in Vienna that he is not a fan of "European constitutions", has opposed further EU integration and criticized the reform treaty as a merely revamped European Constitution, which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

He said that he would have preferred to ratify the treaty in a referendum, in which he would have voted against it, CTK said.