Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- The European Union ended eight years of wrangling over the revamp of its decision-making system when Czech President Vaclav Klaus signed a new governing treaty designed to strengthen the bloc’s global clout.

Klaus’s endorsement removed the last obstacle to the Lisbon Treaty and shifted the spotlight away from the Czech leader’s one-man anti-EU campaign and toward jockeying among candidates to be named the 27-nation bloc’s president and foreign policy chief.

Bowing to a Czech high court ruling and pressure from across Europe, Klaus, 68, signed the document in private and then told reporters in Prague that he believes the treaty means the country “ceases to be a sovereign state.”

A summit to appoint the first full-time president will take place “as soon as possible,” Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, currently in charge of chairing EU meetings, said in a text message.

The powers of the president, with a 2 1/2 year-term renewable once, remain to be fleshed out and debate centers on whether the EU leaders, who will make the choice, want a globally recognized name like former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair or a lesser-known consensus-seeker.

Blair, 56, last week failed to win the backing of EU socialist allies, such as Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann and Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, partly due to his support for George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Instead, the socialists set their sights on the post of foreign policy chief, effectively ceding the job of president to the conservatives.

EU Candidates

Only one of them, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, 54, has publicly declared an interest in the post. Two others tipped by the European media are Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, 53, and Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, 62.

Van Rompuy brought political stability to Belgium after taking over in December 2008, ending a year when the country went through three prime ministers and speculation mounted that it might split apart.

“If Van Rompuy gave the slightest hint that he would do the job, then he would get it,” said Peter Ludlow, a historian and author of “The Making of the New Europe.”

Paddy Power Plc, Ireland’s biggest bookmaker, made Balkenende the 9-4 favorite, ahead of Blair at 11-4, Van Rompuy at 3-1 and Juncker at 4-1.

In Prague, Klaus signed the treaty outside the glare of the television cameras at 3 p.m., hours after the Czech constitutional court threw out his allies’ last-ditch legal appeal against handing more authority to the EU.

Klaus’s Concession

Klaus, a devotee of Milton Friedman and Margaret Thatcher who refuses to fly the European flag at his Prague castle, last week persuaded the EU to grant an exemption to treaty provisions that he feared might have granted property rights to ethnic Germans expelled after World War II.

The Czech ratification documents will now be sent to be officially registered in Rome, where the treaty founding the then six-nation bloc was signed in 1957. EU leaders want the new governing arrangements to take effect on Jan. 1.

“Today is a day when Europe looks forward, when it sets aside years of debate on its institutions, and moves to take strong and collective action on the issues that matter most to European citizens,” U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said in an e-mailed statement.

To contact the reporters on this story: Lenka Ponikelska in Prague at lponikelska@bloomberg.net; James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 3, 2009 11:36 EST