Brussels, 10/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 9 October, the constitutional affairs committee of the European Parliament returned an unfavourable opinion on the request by the Czech Republic to derogate from the Charter of Fundamental Rights and to accede to the protocol granted to the United Kingdom and Poland when the Lisbon Treaty was being drafted. The Czech Republic, under the impetus of its president Vaclav Klaus, had requested to benefit from this protocol after the Irish “no” which led the EU to reopen its talks. Although the opinion of the constitutional affairs committee remains non-binding and the decision is in the hands of the Czech authorities and the European Council, the competent rapporteur Andrew Duff (ADLE, UK) welcomed the signal sent out. “The Czech initiative to join the British and Polish protocol is highly regrettable and was triggered only by President Klaus in one of his moves against the Lisbon Treaty. The European Parliament is perfectly within its rights to decide not to give the official opinion on treaty revision at the request of the European Council”, the MEP state in a press release, calling for the European Council to shelve the Czech proposal. (SP/transl.fl)