Pressure on Prague won't help ratify Lisbon, minister says

Ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the Czech Republic is a "domestic democratic process," and external pressure aimed at speeding up the process is not helping, Czech deputy prime minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra has said.

Mr Vondra - whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency - said he expected the Czech parliamentary committees to finish their work on the treaty "in the month of February and then [the treaty] will be passed to the vote of the house and als...