The treaty reforms the EU's functioning, creating, among other things, the institutions of a president of the Council and a high representative for foreign affairs. All member states have now ratified the document except Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany, and Poland.
'There are two keys to the treaty right now. One is in the Federal Republic of Germany, where the German constitutional tribunal decides. The other is the Irish people,' the president said at an annual meeting with the diplomatic corps yesterday.
'If the Irish vote yes, and if the German constitutional tribunal votes in favour of the treaty, the missing signature will materialise,' said
Lech Kaczyński.
This marks a change in the president's position. Until now, Lech Kaczyński stressed that he would sign the treaty as soon as Ireland endorsed it in a restaged referendum. He justified his tactic of delaying his signature - despite the ratification procedure having been completed - by saying that he was 'defending the Irish people's right to a sovereign decision,'
Yesterday the president made his decision conditional also on a decision of the German constitutional court, which is examining the Lisbon Treaty's conformity with the German constitution. In February last year, the treaty was referred to the Karlsruhe tribunal by CSU deputies Peter Gauweiler and Franz Ludwig von Stauffenberg (son of the conspirator who wanted to kill Hitler) as a legal act depriving the German state of sovereignty.
The tribunal's ruling is expected this summer. German president Horst Köhler supports the treaty, but is waiting for the tribunal to make its ruling before he signs it.
In the Czech Republic, president Vaclav Klaus is waiting too. He has announced he will sign the treaty as the last man in Europe - after the Irish referendum, after the German constitutional court ruling, and after president Lech Kaczyński's signature.
Mr Kaczyński thanked the Czech diplomacy yesterday for presiding over the EU and wished the Swedes, whose presidency starts tomorrow, success in fighting the global economic crisis.
Speaking about the EU's future, Mr Kaczyński said he expected the further waves of enlargement to include not only the Balkan states, but also Ukraine, Georgia, and even beyond.
translated by Marcin Wawrzyńczak
