EU leaders mount diplomatic offensive to keep EU Treaty alive
Pastor Dale Morgan
EU leaders mount diplomatic offensive to keep EU Treaty alive*
By Bruno Waterfield in Luxembourg
Last Updated: 9:00AM BST 16/06/2008
European Union leaders are mounting a diplomatic offensive to keep the
Lisbon Treaty alive after it was rejected by Irish voters.
Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, is meeting Polish Prime Minister
Donald Tusk in Gdansk to pressure Poland into completing its approval of
the EU Treaty.
Meanwhile, Nicolas Sarkozy, the president of France, is travelling to
Prague to persuade a sceptical Czech government to continue its
ratification process.
Mr Sarkozy and Miss Merkel are both keenly aware that if any other
countries halt ratification the treaty is finished.
"The others must continue ratification so that the Irish incident does
not become a crisis," said Mr Sarkozy.
Rescue efforts are also being led by Gordon Brown, who plans to ignore
calls to suspend Parliament's approval of the treaty this week.
The Prime Minister is determined to press ahead with ratification, which
will be completed if the House of Lords votes it through on Wednesday.
"It's right that we respect the Irish decision, but it's also right that
we take our own decision - we're about 95 per cent of the way through
the Parliamentary process," David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary said
yesterday.
William Hague, the shadow foreign secretary, accused the Government of
political cowardice for failing to admit that the treaty had been killed
off by the Irish "no". He called for a halt to ratification.
Mr Hague said that the Prime Minister should come clean and admit that
the treaty was dead.
"I just wish our Government would give a lead instead of saying let's
see what everyone else does," he said. "The only point in other
countries continuing to ratify the treaty is to put pressure on the
Irish, to bully the Irish."
"The Government should show some leadership and tell other nations
frankly that the time has come to abandon the Lisbon Treaty."
In Luxembourg, EU foreign ministers will begin salvaging the Lisbon
Treaty by preparing the ground for a crisis summit in Brussels on Thursday.
Potential splits are emerging to argue against a drive by France and
Germany, who want to force Ireland to vote again, or else establish a
two-tier EU.
Mr Miliband has alarmed Paris and Berlin by opposing calls for Ireland
to be left behind in a two-speed Europe, allowing the other 26 EU
countries to implement the EU Treaty.
"The rules are absolutely clear. If all 27 countries do not pass the
Lisbon Treaty then it does not pass into law," he said.
"There can be no question of bulldozing or bamboozling or ignoring the
Irish vote. In the end it is for the Irish prime minister to decide what
his next moves are. He has got to decide whether or not to apply the
last rites."
Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister, has refused to bury the EU Treaty
and pleaded against isolation for Ireland.
"I want Europe to try and provide some of the solution as well as just
suggesting that it is just Ireland's problem alone," he said.
"A 'no' vote does send us into some uncharted territory and we have to
now try and chart that territory and see what way forward we can achieve."
EU officials and diplomats are hoping that a "quarantined" Ireland can
be asked later this year to sign up to proposals either for "opt-outs"
permitting another Irish referendum or a special "legal arrangement" to
allow the other 26 EU countries to move on without Dublin.