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German Scientists Find New Way to Fight Alzheimer's ... Martin on whether he thinks anything can be done to change the minds of Irish voters who rejected the bloc's reform treaty last week. Martin said he needed to get a better idea of why voters rejected the first treaty before committing the country to a re-vote.
"The people's decision has to be respected and we have to chart a way through ...
It is far too early for proffering any solutions or proposals," Martin said as he arrived at the meeting in Luxembourg on Monday. "There are no quick fix solutions."
Eighteen of 27 EU countries have already ratified the Lisbon Treaty, which is designed to streamline how the bloc does business. But every country needs to ratify the treaty before it can take effect.
Leaders want to continue process Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: There were many reasons why the Irish voted "no" There have been concerns that the "no" vote in Ireland, the only place where the treaty was subject to a public referendum, could be enough to sink the entire EU reform project.
Yet the bloc's foreign ministers said they were determined to find a way forward.
"The treaty is not dead. The EU is in constant crisis management -- we go from one crisis to another and finally we find a solution," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb told reporters on Monday.
The Irish vote represents the third defeat in three years to EU reform plans. In 2005, voters in France and the Netherlands rejected an attempt to reform Europe's institutions under an EU constitution. The Lisbon Treaty is intended to be a replacement for that failed document.
No easy solutions to Ireland crisis Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Will Britain's Gordon Brown stand behind the treaty? EU leaders have been accused of ignoring the concerns of citizens as they have pushed forward with the Lisbon Treaty. Irish voters rejected the treaty for many reasons, chief among them concerns that the treaty would alter the country's abortion laws, tax legislation and neutrality.
Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn proposed that the EU write a declaration reassuring the Irish that the treaty would not impact these issues. Most other EU leaders hedged their bets about the best way to proceed.
"The EU will continue and solve this problem. I don't know how we'll solve it practically, but we'll solve it, no doubt," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.
Concerns about Britain, Czech Republic Even with the Irish rejection of the treaty, most EU leaders have called for the eight countries which have not yet ratified the treaty to do so. If everyone else was on board, Ireland would come under enormous pressure to hold a new referendum. Yet there were concerns that the governments of other countries will also back away from their support of the treaty.
The leaders in Britain and the Czech Republic are considered euroskeptics, and there is no assurance that they will push ahead with treaty ratification.
Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The EU has no clear way forward French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country takes up the EU's rotating presidency on July 1, will meet with Czech leaders Monday to make sure they are on board.
The aim will be to see if "they are committed to follow up on their ratification process," a senior EU diplomat told the news agency AFP, after Czech President Vaclav Klaus remarked that the reform treaty was dead.
"You can count on the president not to leave Europe malfunctioning," French Secretary of State for European Affairs, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, said in an interview on Sunday.
He stressed that Paris was counting on a political deal at this week's EU summit which would give the French EU presidency "all means possible for implementing essential policies for Europe."
But on Monday, a Czech government member was quoted as saying that the French should not put pressure on other countries to move ahead with ratification.
"This pressure seems inappropriate to me," daily
quoted Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra as saying.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will also discuss the crisis with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Cuba, Israel, Bosnia also on the agenda Foreign ministers will also discuss whether to lift sanctions against Cuba.
They also will debate whether to strengthen ties with Israel, amid concerns that the move could anger Arab countries and lead to a boycott of a Mediterranean summit planned in Paris for July 13.
Bosnia is also set to sign a key agreement which would be a first step towards eventual European Union membership.
(Deutsche Welle)
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