German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Wednesday she was "confident" about the future of the EU's Lisbon Treat despite its rejection in Ireland and the Polish president's refusal to sign.

"I remain confident. I believe it is important that we map the way forward with our Irish partners in a comradely manner," Merkel told N-24 television in her traditional summer interview.

"The current contractual basis of the European Union is not one which allows us to work in an optimal manner and that is why we have a new contract, which in my opinion is and should remain the Lisbon Treaty."

Merkel has not faltered in her support for the reform treaty since it was rejected by Irish voters in a referendum last month, plunging the bloc into crisis as the text must be ratified by all 27 member states to enter into force.

But Germany's own ratification process is on hold after President Horst Koehler said Monday he would not sign the treaty until the Constitutional Court has ruled on legal challenges to the text.

Merkel said Koehler's decision had nothing to do with a lack of political will to adopt the charter -- which has been ratified by both houses of the German parliament -- but was taken because "we did not want to irritate the Constitutional Court."

She said the situation with regard to the treaty -- which aims to streamline decision-making in the bloc -- was "the same" in Germany and in Poland.

The Polish parliament voted in April to ratify the charter, but conservative Polish President Lech Kaczynski has not signed it, saying it would be "pointless" given the outcome of the Irish plebiscite.

Merkel said however she believed it was now just "a question of when" Poland completed ratification.

She has vowed to help French President Nicolas Sarkozy find a way of solving the crisis during the French presidency of the EU that kicked off Tuesday.