Polish President Lech Kaczynski has signed the European Union Lisbon Treaty. The ceremony in the capital Warsaw was attended by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeld and European Parliament speaker Jerzy Buzek, who is Polish.

The treaty only comes into force once it has been ratified by all 27 member states. The only member that has not done so is the Czech Republic. The country's president, Vaclav Klaus, wants the treaty's Charter of Fundamental Rights to include an exception for his country: this would prevent Germans expelled after World War II from bypassing Czech courts to enforce their property claims.

Photo: EU flag (Flickr / erjkprunczyk)