Brussels, 05/05/2009 (Agence Europe) - The Czech Senate is expected to vote on the Lisbon Treaty on Wednesday 6 May. A three fifths majority is required if the new EU Treaty is to be ratified (the lower house approved it in February). A number of sources have said that outgoing Prime Minister Mirek Topolánek has been given guarantees by many of the Eurosceptic senators in his own party, the ODS, that either they would support the Treaty, or they would abstain, or they would leave the chamber when voting takes place. With the support of the Social Democrat opposition, the Lisbon Treaty is likely to garner sufficient votes for it to progress. “Rejection would be very negative. It would isolate us within the EU. A lot of countries would think that we were abandoning them because this could serve as a pretext for some to stop the enlargement process,” Topolánek has warned over the last few days, alluding to countries, such as Germany, France and Luxembourg, which have clearly indicated that they were against any new accessions (including that of Croatia) until the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. Even if the Senate votes for the treaty, Czech ratification will not necessarily be a done deal. Firstly, because President Vaclav Klaus, who is opposed to the treaty, will still have to sign the ratification law (and, just like his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski, Klaus could await the outcome of the second Irish referendum before signing the text). Secondly, because a group of ODS senators said on Monday that they could, once again, refer the text to the Constitutional Court (even after the Senate vote), thereby leading to further delays. In its ruling in November, the Court threw out the arguments against certain paragraphs of the treaty that transferred national sovereignty to the EU. The judges did not, however, give their opinion on the text as a whole, so the way could be open for further challenges. (H.B./transl.rt)