Germany, Poland say EU treaty ratification should continue without isolating Ireland - 06/16/2008 - GDANSK, Poland (AP) - The German and Polish leaders said Monday that European Union countries should press ahead with ratifying the reform treaty rejected by Irish voters, but vowed not to isolate Ireland as they seek a way out of the crisis.
The charter, meant to replace the failed EU constitution, was rejected in an Irish referendum on Thursday -- the only popular vote planned in the bloc. The treaty requires the ratification of all 27 EU members, leaving EU leaders scrambling to salvage their reform plans.
In a brief visit to the Polish city of Gdansk, German Chancellor Angela Merkel called for pressing ahead with ratification of the treaty, designed to simplify decision-making and give the EU a stronger voice in the world.
"I absolutely support the position that the ratification processes, wherever possible, must be continued in the individual member states," Merkel said at a news conference alongside Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk. She also argued that the treaty is vital to further expansion of the EU into the western Balkans, whose stability is critical to Europe's well-being. "We need the Lisbon Treaty because we want to expand the EU," she said.
That point was echoed in starker terms by the European Parliament. A statement by leaders of the parliament's political groups said that any further EU enlargement is "barely conceivable" without the so-called Lisbon Treaty.
Senior EU lawmakers urged the remaining eight countries who have not yet ratified the treaty to do so. They urged EU leaders, who are scheduled to meet at a summit in Brussels later this week, to "take all appropriate steps" to push the treaty through by June 2009 despite the Irish rejection.
Merkel said that "we can only find a solution together with Ireland." Tusk stressed that EU members "need to understand" why Ireland voted "no," and address its concerns.
"Jointly with Ireland, we need to seek a way out of this stalemate," he said. "We are sure that we will find this way."
Tusk argued for ratification to go ahead "at the most intensive pace possible in all remaining 26 nations. This should give time for Ireland to precisely say what we should jointly do for Ireland to rejoin the process."