Brussels, 06/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - Irish foreign minister, Micheal Martin, confirmed on Monday at the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee, that his prime minister, Brian Cowen, will only be making a simple intermediate report to the European Council next week (15/16 October) on the situation following the Irish no vote on the Lisbon treaty. He does, however, plan to present concrete proposals to get out of the crisis, during the European Council in December. He said that, “so far, there has been not sufficient time for a national debate to take its course”, which is why, “our domestic procedure of reflection has not been completed”. On the other hand, the Irish government will do its best to clarify things and by “December, we expect to be able to identify more precisely the issues that need to be addressed and to outline the necessary steps to be taken…It would be counterproductive to try to press ahead too hasty. We need to move forward calmly and carefully. A step by step approach is required”, explained the minister. The Irish parliament's European affairs committee has just created a sub-committee (consisting of representatives from all the parties, as well as representatives from civil society). This will examine and debate over the newt few weeks the reasons why the Irish rejected the next EU treaty. By November, this committee is due to make proposals to the parliament on what lessons should be drawn. On the basis of this work, the Irish government intends to submit a report to the European Council in December. Dublin hopes that the EU27 will then agree on a clear roadmap for exiting the institutional crisis, explained Mr Martin.
Members of the constitutional affairs committee did not let up and pressed the Irish minister to be more precise on the calendar (many MPs called for the problems of the Lisbon treaty to be settled before the June 2009 elections). The Irish minister stuck vainly to his defensive position, “I'm not yet in a position to outline a possible solution. The government has not yet taken a decision in this respect as of now. But we have engaged in very detailed analysis of a range of options”. Will it be possible to have a solution before the 2009 European elections? Mr Martin did not appear too worried about this election deadline and explained, “There is no point in coming forward with a solution that is not a correct solution. We have to get it right. We could very well say: let's do something before Christmas, or before February. But if that doesn't work out, then were are we?”. (H.B./trans/rh)