eu looks to britain to revive treaty 
19 June 2008
 
If all went according to a tight schedule, and Britain’s Parliament ratified the Lisbon Treaty, Prime Minister Gordon Brown will arrive in Brussels hours after securing the final royal endorsement.

Ireland created a new crisis for the European Union (EU) last week when 53% of voters rejected the treaty, meant to enable the bloc to operate more smoothly as it grows. Any new blow to the text would undoubtedly mean the end of it, just three years after French and Dutch voters torpedoed its predecessor, the draft constitution.  But while a British green light would bring some relief for an institutional struggle that has endured most of this decade, the leaders do not expect a breakthrough today.

“We could shape a solution. Our Irish colleagues need some time to evaluate the situation,” Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said on Tuesday. Slovenia holds the EU’s rotating presidency.  The aim, officials have said, will be to absorb Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen’s assessment, express solidarity with Dublin and acknowledge the validity of last week’s referendum.

“We must work very closely with the Irish government to help solve this problem,” European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told the European Parliament in Strasbourg yesterday.   “We need to take the time to find a real consensus and see what is possible for Ireland but equally we cannot take too long,” he said.

More time is exactly what Cowen says his country needs. “I will underline that there can be no question of hasty answers or quick fixes,” he told the Irish Dail, or parliament, on Tuesday.
The summit is shaping up as a startling repeat of a June 2005 meeting, when French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution. This time it seems the fatal blow could come from the Czech Republic or Poland.

In theory, the Irish vote already sinks the treaty, as it has to be ratified by all 27 EU nations. Eighteen have done so.  Signed by EU leaders last December in Portugal, the treaty would move the bloc towards more majority voting rather than the difficult-to-achieve unanimity.

Sapa-AFP,  www.businessday.co.za