BRUSSELS (AFP) — EU heads at a Brussels summit delayed until October a decision on how to tackle Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, while seeking Friday to overcome Czech resistance to the key charter.
"The European Council agreed to Ireland's suggestion to come back to this issue at its meeting of 15 October, 2008 in order to consider the way forward," said a draft summit statement seen by AFP.
In it the leaders noted that, although 19 EU nations have ratified the treaty designed to streamline the bloc's operations as it expands, "more time was needed to analyse the situation."
The only reference to whether the seven countries who have not endorsed the treaty should forge ahead simply said: "The ratification process continues in the other countries."
The document, which could yet change in a day of political wrangling, made no reference to the importance the leaders attach to the treaty.
While giving Ireland four months to come up with a plan to move forward with the treaty -- handed a resounding "no" by more than 53 percent of Irish voters in a June 12 referendum -- the EU leaders were keen to prevent any other member states from dealing the charter the fatal blow.
Another setback could torpedo the charter in the way French and Dutch voters did in 2005 for its predecessor, the EU constitution.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus already said last week that the Lisbon Treaty was dead, after the Irish rejection.
Belgian secretary of state for foreign affairs Olivier Chastel said Friday that the Czechs were "not willing to listen to reason."
But EU leaders made a concession to Prague on the second day of their summit to recognise Prague's particular difficulties with ratification.
In an addition to their joint statement, they "noted that the Czech Republic cannot complete the ratification process until the constitutional court delivers its positive opinion on the accordance of the Lisbon Treaty with the Czech constitutional order."
Prague's parliamentary ratification was suspended in late April as it was still going through the lower chamber, after the Senate demanded that the constitutional court rule on whether the treaty conforms with the constitution.
Arriving for the talks, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said he didn't think the Czechs would block the treaty.
"I think that the treaty will be ratified in the rest of the countries," he added.
Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg said that he hoped Prague could endorse the text by January, but that obstacles remained.
During the lengthy first-day summit session, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen pleaded for more time to plot a way out of the EU's reform crisis.
The Lisbon Treaty, signed in the Portuguese capital last December, was scheduled to come into force on January 1, 2009, a date which even the most optimistic europhile has rubbed off the calendar.
Some officials hope Dublin will organise a second referendum in the not-too-distant future, with voters encouraged by reassurances and concessions.
Elsewhere in their summit talks and the draft conclusions, seen by AFP, the EU leaders tackled soaring oil and food prices and the environment.
The EU also implicitly threatened more sanctions against Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe's regime, saying it stood ready to take further action against those behind the political violence.
Next month the French take over the EU's rotating presidency and President Nicolas Sarkozy at the summit appeared to be a man in a hurry.
He said Thursday he plans to visit Ireland next month in search of an answer to the treaty crisis.
He warned that overall European enlargement could be called into question without the treaty.
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