Polish PM urges president to ratify Lisbon Treaty

WARSAW, Oct. 3 (Xinhua) -- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk urged Saturday President Lech Kaczynski to ratify Lisbon Treaty so that the country is not seen to be slowing the process down.

Irish voters approved the treaty in a second referendum on Saturday with 67.1 percent in favor, paying way for the integration of the EU.

"I hope that now President Kaczynski will sign the treaty very quickly as he promised," Tusk was quoted as saying by Polish news agency PAP.

"Europe is waiting for President Kaczynski's signature and I wouldn't want Poland to be seen as a country that is slowing down the Lisbon Treaty," he added.

Kaczynski has not made any public reaction to the Irish "Yes" vote, but Presidential Minister Pawel Wypych said earlier that the president will sign it on behalf of Poland in the middle of next week.

The Lisbon Treaty, signed by EU heads of state and government in December 2007 in the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, was designed to boost the EU's global standing through reforming its institutions.

The charter must be ratified by all 27 EU member states before it can come into force. Ireland is the only country that holds a public ballot on the EU reform treaty.

So far, 26 countries have approved the document through parliamentary vote, but Polish President Kaczynski and Czech President Vaclav Klaus have yet to sign it.