Vienna - Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann on Thursday expressed his disapproval of Czech President Vaclav Klaus' plans to opt out from the Charter of Fundamental Rights, a part of the European Union's reform treaty.

"Under no circumstances must human rights or claims by displaced persons be curtailed," Faymann said, referring to Klaus' fear that the charter would open the door to lawsuits by ethnic Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War II.

The Czech Republic is the only remaining EU country that has yet to ratify the treaty, known as the Lisbon Treaty, before it can enter into force.

Faymann said in a statement that more discussions on the treaty were possible but that these "must not be carried out on the backs of displaced people."

Faymann was speaking after a meeting of the Austrian and Hungarian cabinets in Eisenstadt.

Hungarian Prime Minister Gordon Bajnai also urged the Czech president to ratify the treaty soon, the Austrian press agency APA reported.

After World War II, over 2 million so-called Sudeten Germans were expelled from Czechoslovakia, and some 170,000 of them settled in Austria, according to the Austrian Sudeten organization.

Klaus has said the charter puts property rights of Czech citizens at risk because it would allow Sudeten Germans to sue for their confiscated property.

The Czech Constitutional Court is set to take up the issue of the Lisbon Treaty on October 27, two days before the EU summit in Brussels at which EU leaders are expected to discuss the Czech position. (dpa)