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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has warned Europe against falling into institutional paralysis in the wake of Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon treaty and said he hopes to propose a solution to the situation before the end of this year.

In a passionate speech in the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Thursday (10 July), Mr Sarkozy said that nothing was worse for him than "immobility" and stressed the EU should not let itself be paralysed because of yet another "institutional psycho-drama."

Paris' "absolute priority" in the next six months will be tackling climate change, notably by pushing for the adoption of legislative proposals on how to reduce CO2 emissions by 20 percent by 2020 – a goal agreed by EU leaders last year.

Harmonising the 27 member states' immigration policies and strengthening the bloc's defence capacity are the other main policy areas outlined by the president.

It also comes in the aftermath of Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon treaty in a referendum 10 days ago, which has prompted divisions among EU leaders about the possibilities of continuing with the enlargement process at this stage.

France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, and Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel, have both declared that EU expansion will have to be halted until the document enters into force, while leaders in other countries – such as Poland – have said the process can continue.

With all eyes on the EU leaders' summit in Brussels on Thursday, Janez Lenarcic, secretary of state for European affairs for Slovenia, currently chairing the 27-strong bloc, told MEPs that the continued ratification of the treaty looks likely to be supported by all participants at the top-level meeting.

"The presidency has held talks with countries which have not yet ratified the treaty, and it is quite encouraging to see that those countries are ready to continue the ratification process," said Mr Lenarcic.

The same approach was advocated by the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who argued that the energy the EU had put in to drawing up its internal reform "cannot go to waste."

We have to ask Mr Barroso what kind of people he has in his commission, particularly if you have someone acting as the deregulation Pope in Europe who then goes home and says he hasn't read the treaty and doesn't understand it," Mr Schultz told reporters on Tuesday (17 June).

He was reacting to several statements of Mr McCreevy, who is in charge of internal market in the 27-member-strong European Commission, ahead of the only popular vote on the new EU reform treaty in Ireland held last week, in which the Irish rejected the document.

The commissioner admitted a lack of knowledge of details of the treaty in an interview with the EUobserver, saying he had only read most of a summary of the document.

The German and Polish leaders said Monday that European Union countries should press ahead with ratifying the reform treaty rejected by Irish voters, but vowed not to isolate Ireland as they seek a way out of the crisis.

The charter, meant to replace the failed EU constitution, was rejected in an

The proposed new EU foreign minister and diplomatic service as well as the possibility for a group of member states to move ahead in defence cooperation mean foreign policy is "one of the most innovative parts of the treaty."

The fact that Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, will for the first time be present at the MEPs' annual debate on CFSP on Wednesday (4 June) is in itself a "turning point," said the Pole at a briefing on Tuesday.

Euro-deputies will today debate a report that sets out principles for the EU's foreign policy - such as respect for human rights - calls for certain issues to be prioritised and says that the CFSP budget from now until 2013 is "insufficient."

The report also calls for parliament to be given greater democratic oversight over the area, which to date has remained firmly the domain of member states.

It suggests that the foreign minister "regularly" appear before MEPs and that the parliament be "fully consulted" on who the foreign minister should be, as well as what the diplomatic service should look like.

On 6 May, the European Parliament Foreign Affairs Committee put forward a draft report on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, which is intended to constitute MEPs' wish-list vis-à-vis the Council and the Commission on establishing EEAS. 

The report points out that the future office of High Representative/Vice-President of the Commission will derive its legitimacy directly from the European Parliament. It also stresses the need for "transparency and democratic input" into the process of setting up the planned European External Action Service, and calls for a mechanism to be set up to provide confidential information to select Foreign Affairs Committee Members. 

EU official documents



• Lisbon treaty see Article 2, Title VI
  


• European Parliament Draft report on CFSP by Jacek Saryusz-Wolski
  


• European Parliament Press release: A more effective EU foreign policy in prospect, but more parliamentary scrutiny needed
  


• The European Commission Sppeech by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy

73% of the people interviewed admitted that they feel fairly or very badly informed about the Parliament's activities. Even among those citizens who said they have a good knowledge of the Parliament, only 41% described themselves as well-informed. 

The lack of knowledge may also explain the relatively low turnout in the last elections. Participation rates have consistently dropped since the first elections in 1979. 

MEPs and researchers agreed that the key to higher voter turnout is better informing the citizens. This, they said, required increased mobilisation, higher party activity and better media coverage (EurActiv 09/01/08).

Background:

uropean Union



• Parliament: The Lisbon Treaty and its implications for CFSP/ESDP
  
  (February 2008)


• Parliament: The Impact of the Lisbon Treaty on ESDP
  
  (January 2008)