Wallstrom: Door closed on Lisbon

EU MEMBER states will not agree to renegotiate the Lisbon treaty to ease Irish concerns over the document, the vice-president of the European Commission has said.

Appearing before an Oireachtas committee on Lisbon, Margot Wallstrom said her personal impression was member states did not want to reopen negotiations on the treaty.

“My impression is that that door is closed,” she said in response to questions from TDs.

Earlier, in her opening address to the committee, Ms Wallstrom said the member states were “disappointed” with the Irish rejection of the treaty and were now “waiting patiently” to hear a solution.

However, she omitted a line in her prepared script which read: “The disappointment across the union could of course turn to frustration, if a solution is not found within a reasonable timeframe.”

Questioned later about the pressure member states might put on the Government, she said she hoped they would not try to “threaten” or “bully” Ireland, because this would not work. She stressed that the member states were eager for a solution, and the Irish “timetable” was an important element in moving things forward.

Under this timetable, the Government is expected to bring forward a plan to resolve the impasse to the December meeting of EU leaders.

Ms Wallstrom said: “Your timetable, to conclude before the December council, is an important signal that Ireland recognises the urgency, especially with the European elections on the horizon next June.”

If Lisbon is not ratified in time for the elections, they will have to be conducted under the current rules governing the EU, as set down in the Nice Treaty. That would mean 736 European Parliament seats instead of the 751 envisaged by Lisbon.