France Presses for Deadline on Plan to Save Eu Blueprint

France is pressing European leaders to set a deadline today for a plan of action to salvage the EU's grand reform project rejected by Irish voters.

But President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to find a way out of Europe's crisis of confidence by October has run into resistance, not least from Ireland, which rejected the EU's Treaty of Lisbon by referendum.

Desperate to find a way of resurrecting their blueprint for Europe's direction, EU leaders meet in Brussels today. They hope that Brian Cowen, the Irish prime minister, can offer suggestions on a way out of the impasse.

Despite the French push for an October deadline, however, Cowen warned yesterday that he would not be rushed. "I will impress upon them the need to avoid prejudicing the process which we must now undertake in Ireland," he told parliament in Dublin. Cowen said he hoped the rest of the EU would "accord us the time we need to play our part in understanding last week's vote".

Exactly a week after Irish voters said no to the Lisbon treaty, which from next January was supposed to reform the EU's institutions and redefine how decisions are taken, the summit will try to chart a way forward.

Slovenia, chairing today's summit, predicted there would be no repeat of the European crisis that followed the French and Dutch referendum defeats of a European constitution three years ago. European leaders appear determined not to administer the last rites to the treaty, despite the Irish rebuff.

France is seeking to set a deadline of an October summit for a plan to revive the treaty and is also said to be furious with the European commission, blaming its chief, José Manuel Barroso, for failing to make the EU more popular with voters.

"This summit could get nasty," said a senior source in Brussels. "There's an anti-Barroso campaign out of Paris."

Germany would also like a swift agreement on what to do next, with the favored option being that Ireland, in return for some declaratory concessions, should stage a referendum rerun, perhaps next spring. Concessions might include assurance that Ireland would always have a European commissioner, for example, as well as declarations on the sanctity of Ireland's abortion ban, military neutrality, and sovereignty over taxation rates.

But Cowen, according to sources in Dublin, will tell his European partners that at this stage his government cannot countenance a second referendum.

"One of the main goals will be to calm the Europeans down and not inflame the situation either in the EU or back at home any further," said an Irish government source. "It will be made clear to the EU partners that it is politically impossible for Ireland to have a rerun."

Cowen is to outline his options and to offer an analysis of the Irish rejection at a Brussels dinner this evening. It is probably too early for any clear strategy to emerge.

Officials and diplomats in Brussels are drawing analogies with Denmark in 1992 after the Danes, in a referendum, rejected the Treaty of Maastricht and then voted for the treaty in a new plebiscite after being granted exemptions from the treaty's provisions.

The Irish resistance to the pressure is being bolstered by Britain and others. Dublin sources said that Cowen was "very happy" with the British position following his talks with Gordon Brown in Belfast on Monday. Brown is expected to discuss the options with Sarkozy in Paris today before the Brussels summit.

The French and the Germans also want assurances that ratification of the Lisbon treaty by all other 26 EU states will be accomplished as quickly as possible. Following Britain's ratification last night, another seven countries have still to endorse the treaty.