Government Gets Year To Sort Out Lisbon

Europe's leaders have given Brian Cowen one year to arrange a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.

The news comes following a summit on the Treaty where the Taoiseach was expected to "explain" to the European leadership including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the next steps Ireland is to take.

Despite the year-long breathing space, there is reportedly a blanket refusal by Europe on any renegotiation of the Treaty, which will make the government's task of "reselling" it extremely difficult.

Mr Barroso was the first of many leaders to indicate a full renegotiation was not on the cards as the deal had been 'agreed' by all 27 member governments.

"It will be very difficult, extremely difficult, to get any institutional change regarding the text of the Lisbon Treaty as it was approved," he said.

The Irish Government will be hoping for written assurances on key issues such as tax, abortion and neutrality, and a deal on the contentious allocation of commisioners to each country will be enough to secure a yes vote.

A second referendum is expected to take place in the spring, where Irish voters will be faced with a stark decision between accepting the Treaty, warts and all, or dropping out of the union altogether.

In-fighting over the 'No' vote fall-out has already began, as French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday night held Britain's European Commissioner Peter Mandelson responsible for the Irish 'No' vote.

Mr Sarkozy made the attack on Mr Mandelson claiming the ex-cabinet member's trade policies had alarmed Irish farmers and contributed to the 'Non' vote.

He said: "A child dies of starvation every 30 seconds and the Commission wanted to reduce European agriculture production by 21% during World Trade Organisation (WTO) talks. This was really counter-productive."

(DW)