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The Italian senate's unanimous support for the Lisbon treaty on Wednesday (23 July) should help force Ireland into a revote, Italian politicians have said, with Ireland looking increasingly likely to stand out as the only EU country not to ratify the text.
"If ratification takes place in the other 26 states, in the autumn we will be able to ask Ireland to find a solution which will not block the integration process and go to the European elections with the new rules foreseen in the Lisbon treaty," the senate's foreign affairs committee head, Lamberto Dini, indicated.
Twenty one out of 27 EU states have definitively ratified the EU treaty despite the Irish No vote in a referendum in June. The Spanish, German and Polish parliaments have also approved the text, which now awaits the signatures of the respective heads of state.
The Swedish parliament is set to pass the treaty without serious opposition when it begins its autumn session in September. Czech Prime Minister Miroslav Topolanek this week pledged the full support of his divided ODS party when parliament votes in autumn.
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