31/03/2005 (Agence Europe) - Just before Easter, the chairman of the Czech Senate, Premysl Sobotka, whose party, the ODS, has so far been in favour of voting no to the constitutional treaty, said: “I am saying a soft yes. At the moment it is our task to become a fully-fledged member of the Union. We are for a liberal European Union, not a Union that is bound by decrees”. The statement, made in Prague on 22 March, closely followed the position taken by the party leader, Mirek Topolanek, in Brussels during the EPP Summit. Topolanek felt that the ODS “could tolerate ratification of the treaty”. This did not prevent MEP Jan Zahradil from telling the daily, Pravo, on 23 March that “the ODS has not changed its stance on the Constitution”.