EU struggles to keep on sailing as treaty runs aground

Jun 20, 2008, 10:09 GMT

Brussels - When a crowded ship hits a rock, it takes a brave captain to try and keep on sailing.

But with the European Union's ship of state run head-first onto the rocks of Ireland's rejection of the bloc's Lisbon Treaty, that is exactly the trick which the bloc's 27 national leaders were attempting at their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

'The most important thing is that the EU should signal that it is dealing with the real problems that real people have, not just talking about itself the whole time,' Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer said.

The Lisbon treaty is designed to speed up EU decision-making and give it a higher international profile, but Ireland's rejection of it on June 12 means that it cannot come into force as planned - forcing EU leaders to debate yet again how the bloc should reform itself.

Asked whether the EU should stop arguing about internal problems, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country currently presides over EU meetings, said 'I agree with the citizens - that is why I did not change the agenda (of the summit).'

Indeed, before the Irish referendum of June 12, EU leaders had said that they would deal not only with European issues but the burning global problem of soaring food and oil prices.

In the run-up to the summit, EU finance, agriculture and foreign ministers all held special debates on the issue as a warm-up to the meeting of EU presidents and prime ministers.

Some leaders were keen to stick to that theme on Thursday, with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt saying that it is 'important that we make clear to the outside world that work within the EU continues.'

But time and again the question of the Irish vote arose to cloud the proceedings, and the only thing on which leaders could agree was that there was no easy answer.

Some, such as European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, insisted that the most important thing was to give Ireland time to think, coming back to the question at the next EU summit in October.

Others, such as European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering, went further, saying that Ireland must present a 'sketch of a road-map on how we can go further' at the October summit.

And others again, like Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, went further still, saying that the Lisbon treaty should be brought into force by April 1, 2009 at the latest - a timetable which even he described as 'very optimistic and ambitious.'

Under Jansa's chairmanship the summit did attempt to stick to its agenda. Within minutes of beginning their talks, EU leaders had agreed to invite Slovakia into the group of countries which use the single European currency, bringing the number of eurozone members to 16 as of January 1, 2009.

The leaders then turned to the question of food and oil prices, with a report from Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen on the outcome of the Lisbon vote not expected until they had begun their dinner.

But even as they talked, sources reported that a dispute had broken out between Germany and France, on the one hand, and the Czech Republic, on the other, over whether the bloc should call for an Irish solution to the problem at the October summit, or merely press for one at an unspecified future date.

And with the debate over the treaty's fate set to last at least until the autumn, it would take a very brave captain to say that the EU's ship of state can sail onwards - without the risk of sinking.