France rules out new EU treaty after Irish 'no'
PARIS (AFP) — European Union countries will not go back to the drawing board and draft a new reform treaty following Ireland's rejection of the key text, France's European affairs minister said Tuesday.
"One thing is certain: we will not start drafting a new treaty. None of the member states want that," said Jean-Pierre Jouyet in an address to the French Senate on France's priorities as the next EU president.
The European Union was thrown off kilter when Ireland rejected the reform Lisbon Treaty in a referendum last week, dealing a setback to the latest effort to streamline EU institutions.
The foreign ministers of France and Germany, Bernard Kouchner and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, on Tuesday also cautioned against seeking a quick fix.
"We respect the vote of the Irish people and we do not have a ready-made solution to propose," said Kouchner, adding that more time is needed.
Steinmeier echoed that view saying that the EU must "give the Irish people time to analyse the reasons which led to this result and allow them to make proposals."
France and Germany have called on the eight EU countries that have yet to ratify the Lisbon Treaty to keep the document alive and approve it, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said Britain will take that course.
The French EU presidency beginning on July 1 will stick to its goals of negotiating new agreements on immigration, defence, the environment and agriculture, said Jouyet.
But he added that France would show "modesty and rigour" during its six months at the helm of the 27-nation bloc.
The Irish 'no' vote put plans to appoint a new EU president and foreign minister as outlined in the treaty on the back burner.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to outline his agenda for Europe in an address to the European parliament in Strasbourg on July 10.
