EUROPEAN SUMMIT

Sarkozy asks his Parliament to sign treaty

Friday, October 19, 2007

Nicolas Sarkozy announced his support for the new EU treaty proposed at the summit talks in Lisbon. He has asked the French Parliament to ratify the treaty that EU leaders will formally sign in Lisbon on December 13.

   
European leaders on Friday hailed their breakthrough in agreeing a new EU treaty which ends two years of limbo for the bloc.
   
Leaders of the 27 member nations entered the second day of summit talks on global warming and globalisation with wide smiles but bleary-eyed after the treaty success.
   
"With this accord Europe has emerged from its institutional crisis," Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told reporters, adding that EU leaders will formally sign the new treaty in Lisbon on December 13.
   
"In this case we're really talking about a historic agreement and it really gives the European Union a capacity to act in the 21st century," European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said.
   
The 'Treaty of Lisbon' -- which replaces the EU constitution scuppered by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005  -- was brokered in the early hours of Friday after overcoming last-minute Polish and Italian objections.
   
EU leaders deem the 250-plus page treaty vital because the bloc's rule book has not had a serious update since 10 Eastern European countries joined in May 2004, followed by Bulgaria and Romania in January.
   
Like the failed constitution, the treaty includes plans for a European foreign policy supremo and a more permanent president to replace the current cumbersome rotating six-month presidency system.
   
It also cuts the size of the European parliament and the number of EU decisions which would require unanimous support from member states.
   
However it drops all references to the EU flag or anthem, in attempts to assuage eurosceptics who see this as another move to a federal European superstate.
   
"The political consequence is that finally, after six years of a process of institutional navel gazing... it was ended," British Foreign Minister David Miliband said.
   
"So the consequence of this treaty is that Europe needs to prove that it can make a real difference to people's lives on issues like climate, jobs, migration and terrorism," added Miliband.
   
After signing the treaty in December, member states will have one year to ratify it so that it can come into effect on January 1, 2009.
   
Most nations plan to get the ratification done by parliament, rather than putting it to the sort of unpredictable vote that torpedoed the constitution.
   
Only Ireland is constitutionally obliged to hold a referendum.
   
"Ireland will become a focal point of all the anti-European Union campaigns," one summit-participant predicted.
   
Irish sources said a referendum could be held next May or June.
   
EU leaders sealed the deal after overcoming Polish and Italian gripes in last-minute wrangling on the sidelines of the summit.
   
Poland had threatened to veto the deal if the treaty does not give authority to a voting system which allows a minority of nations to temporarily block EU decisions.
   
After tough bargaining, President Lech Kaczynski said that "Poland got everything it wanted. I'm very happy this business is behind us." The Polish government is looking for good news ahead of legislative elections on Sunday.
   
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi obtained an extra seat in the European Parliament in a compromise easing Italian concerns that it could have fewer lawmakers than EU heavyweights France and Britain.
   
The compromise leaves Italy on a par with Britain and with one seat fewer than France.
   
Britain also had many reservations about the treaty, but obtained opt-outs in key areas at the last EU summit in June.
   
"The UK's red lines are secured," said British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, attending his first summit since succeeding Tony Blair, "the British national interest has been protected".
   
The summit has also been abuzz with talk of divorce of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife Cecilia.

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19/10/07 Sarkozy appeals to Parliament to ratify Lisbon 'treat'