European Commission Vice President Margot Wallstrom told an Oireachtas sub-committee that Ireland holds the key for finding a solution for the whole of Europe after the country voted to reject the EU's Lisbon Treaty in June.

The European Union will next year organise a series of events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its inception, including a youth summit in Rome, where the EU’s founding treaty was signed in 1957, officials in Strasbourg said today.