Budapest  - Hungary expressed regret Friday at the rejection by Irish voters of the European Union reform treaty.

"The outcome of the vote, however, does not necessarily mean a failure of the document," said the Hungarian Foreign Office spokesperson Lajos Szelestey on Friday in Budapest. We trust in retaining the values of the contract," he added.

Earlier Friday Czech President Vaclav Klaus praised Irish voters for rejecting a European Union reform treaty, portraying it as the project's death blow.

"With today's decision by Irish voters, the Lisbon Treaty projects is finished and ratification will not continue," Klaus said in a statement.

Klaus, whose stance reflects considerable misgivings against the Lisbon Treaty among Czech politicians, called the outcome "a victory of freedom and common sense over artificial, elitist projects and European bureaucracy."

The Czech Republic has yet to ratify the pact, which is under review by the nation's Constitutional Court for possible conflicts with Czech law.

Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon treaty, which is designed to make the EU more efficient and comprehensible to voters, means that the treaty cannot now come into effect, even though parliaments in 18 member states have already voted to ratify it. Hungary was the first country to ratify the Lisbon Treaty by parliamentary vote.

While opposing the treaty, Klaus has said he would sign off on it if the pact passes other ratification hurdles in his country. The Czech Republic is due to chair the EU during the first six months of 2009, the first former Soviet-bloc country in line for the presidency. (dpa)