BRUSSELS (EJP)---The EU heads of state and government started Thursday a two-day meeting on 19-20 June at the European Council headquarters in Brussels.
They began in the afternoon with a discussion on the accession of Slovakia to the euro zone, in the presence of the President of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet.
After that, the European Council will have an exchange of views with the President of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Poettering.
At its first working session, the European Council will discuss the soaring food and oil prices and the efforts to be made to confront this challenge.
Another important topic, which leaders will address at their working dinner, will be last week’s Irish rejection of the EU Lisbon Reform Treaty, on which the Irish Prime Minister will brief his colleagues. The Irish "no" vote has plunged the EU in an institutional crisis.
EU leaders will discuss how to move forward as 19 EU member states – including the UK on Wednesday - have already ratified the treaty.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country will chair the EU from July 1, is likely to champion a second referendum in Ireland, while other countries, as well as European Commission President José Manuel Barroso, are expected to argue that Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen be given until October to seek a way out of the crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the European Union “needs” the Lisbon Treaty and that it must be approved unanimously by all 27 member states.
She added that Germany was opposed to any “two-speed Europe” and that the EU could not afford another extended period of reflection following the Irish vote.
The Lisbon Treaty, which was designed to help the EU cope with its expansion into eastern Europe, provides for a streamlining of the European Commission, the removal of the national veto in more policy areas, a new president of the European Union and a strengthened foreign affairs post.
The treaty was due to come into force on 1 January 2009.
A project for a draft constitution which the Lisbon Treaty was drawn up to replace what was scuppered in 2005 by “no” votes in French and Dutch referendums.
