28/09/2009 (Agence Europe) - If the Irish were once again to reject the Lisbon Treaty on 2 October, Germany and France would have to take the initiative and bring together “within the Eurogroup” a knot of countries that want to take forward European integration following “the Monnet method: advancing step by step, with targeted projects”, says former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. “making the Eurogroup as a spearhead would make the Franco-German initiative very positive, particularly when it comes to putting in place a common energy policy, a common gas market. It would be an important sign to the outside world, especially to Moscow,” said Fischer (who works now inter alia for the gas pipeline project Nabucco) in Le Monde of 28 September. The Franco-German partnership is “more important than ever” for the EU “because the institutions are weak, the Commission is very weak, the Lisbon Treaty suspended”. “Europe's centre of gravity can only be Paris and Berlin,” he said. (H.B./transl.rt)