BRUSSELS (AFP)---EU leaders delayed until October a decision on how to tackle Ireland's recent rejection of the Lisbon Reform Treaty, while seeking to overcome Czech resistance to the charter.
“The European Council agreed that more time was needed to analyse the situation. It noted that the Irish government will actively consult, both internally and with the other Member States, in order to suggest a common way forward,” a statement said Friday after a meeting of EU heads of state and government in Brussels.
The Council agreed to Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s suggestion to discuss again the issue at a meeting on October 15.
"Our agreement gives a very positive impulse towards the final solution," Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, who chaired the summit, told a closing news conference.
Recalling the fact that the Lisbon Treaty aimed at helping an enlarged European Union to act more effectively and more democratically, the EU leaders noted that 19 EU nations have already ratified the treaty and that the ratification process continues in 7 other countries.
While giving Ireland four months to come up with a plan to move forward with the treaty -- handed a resounding "no" by more than 53 percent of Irish voters in a June 12 referendum -- the EU leaders were keen to prevent any other member states from dealing the charter the fatal blow.
Another setback could torpedo the charter in the way French and Dutch voters did in 2005 for its predecessor, the EU constitution.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus already said last week that the Lisbon Treaty was dead, after the Irish rejection.
EU leaders made a concession to Prague on the second day of their summit to recognise Prague's particular difficulties with ratification.
In an addition to their joint statement, they "noted that the Czech Republic cannot complete the ratification process until the constitutional court delivers its positive opinion on the accordance of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech constitutional order."
Prague's parliamentary ratification was suspended in late April as it was still going through the lower chamber, after the Senate demanded that the constitutional court rule on whether the treaty conforms with the constitution.
The Lisbon Treaty, signed in the Portuguese capital last December, was scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2009.
Some officials hope Dublin will organise a second referendum in the not-too-distant future, with voters encouraged by reassurances and concessions.
Sarkozy: no enlargement without Lisbon Treaty
Next month the French take over the EU's rotating presidency and President Nicolas Sarkozy at the summit appeared to be a man in a hurry.
He said Thursday he plans to visit Ireland next month in search of an answer to the treaty crisis.
Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that overall European enlargement could be called into question without the treaty.
Several countries in the Western Balkans are candidates to join the union. Certain EU countries- including Poland and Austria – believe that the EU must keep its word to Croatia, which tops the queue of the aspirants for membership and that it should not become the first victim of the Irish referendum.
"Ireland is a problem. But if we had a second or a third problem, it would become very difficult to solve," Sarkozy said at a press conference.
"A renegotiation of the Lisbon treaty is out of the question. We are not going to redo a second simplified treaty," he said, noting the Lisbon Treaty was itself a boiled-down version of the EU constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he expected all the other 26 member states to ratify the text and Ireland to come back to its partners with ideas for the way forward in October.
The treaty is designed to give the bloc stronger leadership and institutions to cope with recent and future enlargement.
The Lisbon treaty would give EU leaders a long-term president, a stronger foreign policy chief with a real diplomatic service, a more democratic decision-making system and more say for the European and national parliaments.
