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By James G. Neuger and Leon Mangasarian
June 16 (Bloomberg) -- European Union foreign ministers quarreled over the fate of the bloc's new governing treaty after a veto in Ireland slammed the brakes on moves toward a more politically united Europe.
EU ministers showcased their disagreements over how to respond to Ireland's rejection of the treaty, which would create the post of full-time president with the goal of upgrading Europe's role in world affairs.
``The treaty is not dead,'' Finland's Alexander Stubb said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg. The meeting's chairman, Slovenia's Dimitrij Rupel, questioned whether there is a way out of the impasse, saying: ``It would be risky to say that we are going to bring the treaty back to life when we face a blockade.''
Ireland's veto in a referendum last week brought the EU's internal discord to the fore, overshadowing matters ranging from the nuclear standoff with Iran to the bloc's response to soaring food and energy prices.
The treaty can only take effect once all 27 EU countries endorse it, giving the 862,000 Irish who voted ``no'' a veto over political life in a group of 495 million people. So far, 18 countries have ratified it through parliament.
Ireland's rebuff is a ``cold shower'' for Europe, said Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, a former European justice commissioner.
Officials from three countries yet to ratify -- Britain, Italy and Sweden -- pledged to press on with the process, saying that their views shouldn't be stifled by the Irish rejection.
``We don't see any reason to abstain from having our voice just because they had their voice,'' Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.
Conflicting Views
The debate reflected conflicting views of what the EU is for, with Britain and some countries in eastern Europe seeing it as an economic arrangement and a core group led by France and Germany intent on more political unity.
President Vaclav Klaus of the Czech Republic -- another country yet to ratify -- hailed the defeat of an ``elitist artificial project.''
The Czech Republic looms as another obstacle to the treaty, which has been held up in court and faces growing opposition in the upper house of parliament. Klaus's signature may also be required on the ratification document.
Irish voters have rejected an EU treaty once before, in June 2001. The solution then was to put out a declaration that the EU wouldn't infringe on Ireland's military neutrality, and the Irish voted ``yes'' in a second referendum a year later.
Irish Rerun Doubts
Several ministers questioned whether the Irish could be hauled back to the polls again, partly because the EU didn't force reruns in France and the Netherlands after their voters torpedoed the proposed EU constitution in 2005.
The new treaty, signed in Lisbon in December, was meant to point the way out of the impasse triggered by the failure of the constitution. It includes many of the constitution's innovations, such as the 2 1/2-year presidency post.
Known as the Lisbon Treaty, the latest update to the EU's founding Treaty of Rome of 1957, it would also strengthen the foreign-policy chief, give more power to the democratically elected European Parliament and national parliaments, and shrink the European Commission, the EU's executive agency.
In Ireland, the recriminations continued over how the united forces of the government and opposition failed to persuade the public to vote yes. ``No'' campaigners argued that the new rulebook would lessen Ireland's influence in the EU. Backers fretted that the 277-page exercise in EU legalese is unintelligible to the average voter.
`This Side of Timbuktu'
``The treaty refers to sub-paragraphs of former sub- paragraphs and other documents, and there is no person this side of Timbuktu who would be in a position to understand it,'' Ireland's representative on the EU commission, Charlie McCreevy, told reporters in Dublin. While McCreevy backs the treaty, he said he hasn't read it.
Ireland sought to shut down talk of a smaller group of countries forming an inner union based on the new treaty, an idea floated in Beijing two days ago by German Foreign Minister Frank- Walter Steinmeier, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
``We do not want a two-speed Europe,'' Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin told RTE radio. ``We don't want to be in the slow lane.'' Ireland needs ``time and space'' to propose a way out of the dilemma, Martin said.
House of Lords
In Britain, the Irish veto stirred a last-minute controversy over this week's planned rubber stamp of the treaty in the House of Lords. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government steered the treaty through the House of Commons in March and today rejected calls by the Conservative opposition to stop the process.
Brown's Labour Party trails the opposition in opinion polls for an election that must take place by June 2010. In a parliamentary debate, the Conservatives' William Hague declared the treaty ``finished.''
Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the final endorsement in the upper house will go ahead as planned, while the U.K. won't put pressure on Ireland to change its mind.
``There will be no question of ignoring the Irish vote or bulldozing Irish opinion,'' Miliband said. ``Equally there is no appetite for a return to years of institutional negotiation. The EU as a whole needs to find a way forward.''
To contact the reporters on this story: Leon Mangasarian in Luxembourg at lmangasarian@bloomberg.net; James G. Neuger in Luxembourg at jneuger@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 16, 2008 13:28 EDT
