EU set to discuss future of Lisbon Treaty in October summit

BRUSSELS, June 20 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) will likely discuss the future of the Lisbon Treaty, whose ratification process had been stalled by an Irish "no" referendum, at the bloc's mid-October summit, according to a draft statement of the ongoing summit released Friday.

"The European Council agreed to Ireland's suggestion to come back to this issue at its meeting of Oct. 15, 2008 in order to consider the way forward," said the draft document.

The EU leaders concluded their first-day talks late Thursday night and agreed not to set a deadline to solve the crisis resulting from Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.

"It is very sure that we will not set any deadlines, not for Ireland, not for anybody else," Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency, told reporters in the early hours of Friday following the first day of an EU summit.

The EU leaders entered their second day talks Friday morning to focus their discussion on the initiative for establishing a Mediterranean Union, West Balkan countries' accession to the EU, and the UN Millennium Development Goals.

The two-day summit was dominated by the Irish "No" to the Lisbon Treaty in a national referendum last week, which plunged the EU into a political impasse.

Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told reporters early Friday that the treaty will not take effect as from Jan. 1, 2009, and promised that his country will not hamper the ratification process of the document.

"This does not mean that the ratification process must take place this year and cannot be prolonged ... The Czechs will definitely not hamper it anyhow," Topolanek said.

However, Czech President Vaclav Klaus said in reaction to the Irish "no" that the ratification process can no longer continue.

Senators from the Czech ruling Civic Democrats had filed a complaint with the country's Constitutional Court against the treaty. The court is to decide whether it is in harmony with the Czech Constitution, and is expected to issue a verdict in September or October.

The Lisbon Treaty, which is designed to streamline EU decision making and strengthen its external links, is expected to enter into force on Jan. 1, 2009 before elections of the European Parliament, providing that all the bloc's 27 members have ratified it.

So far, 19 EU members have approved the treaty through the parliamentary procedure. Seven countries are yet to ratify the document also through their own parliaments.

Should the ratification process be not completed as scheduled, the treaty will come into force on the first day of the month following the last ratification.

BRUSSELS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- Leaders from the 27-member European Union opened a two-day summit here on Thursday to discuss a reform treaty which was recently rejected by the Irish people in a referendum and the rising food and oil prices. Full story

BRUSSELS, June 19 (Xinhua) -- The two-day European Union summit starting here later Thursday is sure to brainstorm over solutions to save the Lisbon Treaty that was recently rejected in the Irish referendum, but observers here believe no "fast-fix" can be made.