The Czech constitutional court has delayed a verdict on the Lisbon Treaty's compliance with the Czech constitution following a request from eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus.
The verdict will be delayed from 10 November until 25 November.
'Such postponements are not frequent, but since the president is a participant in the proceedings we obliged,' said Michal Spacil, spokesman for the court.
He cited foreign visits planned by President Klaus as the reason.
Mr Klaus is due to visit Ireland, the only country to reject the text so far, and Saudi Arabia.
On his Irish visit he will meet President Mary McAleese, Taoiseach Brian Cowen and Libertas founder Declan Ganley.
Czech ratification of the treaty, designed to streamline EU institutions, is currently stalled pending the court verdict.
The parliament will deal with the document after the court.
Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek hopes that the treaty will be approved by the end of the year, before the Czech Republic takes over EU presidency on 1 January.
Since the No vote in this country, Mr Klaus has been lobbying hard for Czech parliament to scupper the ratification of the treaty.
