Sep 14, 2009, 14:05 GMT
Stockholm - Croatia can continue its membership talks with the European Union regardless of the fate of the Lisbon Treaty aimed at reforming the bloc's institutions, the prime ministers of Sweden and Luxembourg said Monday.
Speaking at a joint news conference with Swedish Premier Fredrik Reinfeldt, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker of Luxembourg said he also favoured opening membership talks with Iceland.
Sweden is the current holder of the rotating EU presidency.
Reinfeldt and Juncker declined to mention if they had any favourite names for some of the new posts envisaged in the Lisbon Treaty, including European Council president, citing that Irish voters have yet to have their say in an October 2 referendum.
Moreover, ratification was still pending in the Czech Republic, Germany and Poland, they noted.
Both Juncker and Reinfeldt also discussed EU efforts to push for a successful outcome of UN climate talks on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to be held in Copenhagen in December.
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