Vaclav Klaus, Czech president, signed the Lisbon treaty on Tuesday, ending a year-long stalemate with his fellow EU leaders and enabling the treaty to come into force as the EU’s new governing framework.

Mr Klaus, a eurosceptic who has compared the EU to the former Soviet Union, fought a dogged resistance to the treaty, only throwing in the towel after the Czech constitutional court ruled earlier on Tuesday that the treaty did not violate the Czech constitution.