FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday praised the Government's promise to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty as "courageous" and told MEPs that securing agreements aimed at addressing Irish concerns was the only way of getting out of the current impasse.
Such an approach, agreed at last week's EU summit in Brussels, would not be easy "for the Irish people or anybody else" but Europe was about "a spirit of compromise", said Mr Sarkozy.
The assurances relating to Irish concerns would be incorporated into the next EU enlargement treaty, he told the European Parliament.
"At the first enlargement after all this, we will make these adjustments, and the Irish Government has courageously promised to hold a new referendum of the people before the end of 2009.
"And if things happen as I want them to happen, the Lisbon Treaty will become a reality only one year late," Mr Sarkozy predicted.
The French president told MEPs that when he first floated the idea of rerunning the referendum following Irish voters' rejection of the treaty in June, it came as a "shock" in some quarters.
"When I suggested that we should consult our Irish friends again, people said I was not being respectful of the Irish, by asking them to vote again," Mr Sarkozy said during a valedictory address to the European Parliament marking the end of France's six-month term as holder of the EU presidency.
He pointed out that 25 member states have almost concluded the ratification process.
"But we can only have the Lisbon Treaty if our Irish friends vote Yes and, for that to happen, something new has to appear, and that is one commissioner per country." Mr Sarkozy noted the commissioner concession had been greeted with little enthusiasm by some member states.
"This required an effort by some countries who believe that, to be effective, we need a smaller EU Commission," he said.
The French president told MEPs that the other assurances made to Ireland at last week's summit - political commitments safeguarding neutrality, tax sovereignty and family legislation including laws on abortion - were "no problem" for the rest of Europe.
He continued: "But the problem is the legal form of those political commitments. In Ireland, there is the constitutional court, and no doubt people wanting to vote No would go to that court to ask for the [EU summit] agreements to be complied with.
"So what we now need is not re-ratification by all countries - we have no interest in solving one problem to create 26 others."
He said the commitments given to Ireland would be legislated for in the next EU treaty on enlargement, most likely to allow Croatia's accession in 2010 or 2011.
"So what we have proposed is that when this enlargement takes place - and only then - we will add to the Croatia accession treaty the so called 'Irish protocol' with these guarantees."
Fianna Fáil MEP Brian Crowley praised Mr Sarkozy for his efforts to resolve Ireland's dilemma.
"We greatly appreciate the compromise that has been reached to allow for a second decision from the Irish people with regard to the Lisbon Treaty," he said.
Martin Schulz, leader of the European Parliament's Socialist grouping, struck a more sceptical note. "We still don't have the Lisbon Treaty, and what you have decided will not help, unless an Irish leader points out to the people that the response to the financial crisis has been a European success," he said.
Bruno Gollnisch, deputy leader of France's far-right National Front, criticised the idea of a second referendum, arguing that it amounted to a form of "servitude" of the people.