There will be second Nice referendum, insists Ahern

The Taoiseach has renewed his pledge for a second Nice Treaty referendum.

Mr Bertie Ahern reiterated his determination to have another vote at a meeting in Dublin with the Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar at Government Buildings tonight.

Mr Aznar is currently touring EU capitals in his capacity as president of the union ahead of a European summit in Seville later this month.

However, Mr Ahern said Ireland would be seeking to have and EU declaration on Irish neutrality enshrined in the Nice Treaty if it is accepted.

The electorate narrowly rejected endorsing the Treaty in last June’s referendum.

Ireland is the only one of the EU's current 15 member states that needs a referendum to ratify Union treaties. Only two other member states, Belgium and Greece, still have to ratify Nice, which has to be approved by all members by the end of 2002.

The European Union commissioner for enlargement warned earlier today that a second rejection of the Treaty later this year would lead to a delay in the bloc's expansion plans.

I don't believe we can tell the Irish electorate it does not matter if they accept the Nice treaty or not. There is no plan B. European Union commissioner for enlargement, Mr Guenter Verheugen

"There will be very, very serious problems if the referendum in Ireland fails for a second time. I don't have a solution to that, to be frank," Mr Guenter Verheugen told an economics conference in Munich.

"What we would certainly have to accept is a certain delay and a delay would be very dangerous," Mr Verheugen said.

The EU has said 10 countries - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia - could join the bloc in 2004 depending on the outcome of negotiations due to conclude in December.

Asked by reporters why an Irish "no" might to lead to a delay, Mr Verheugen said it would leave the bloc incapable of closing the institutional chapter of negotiations and leave the EU with the legal problem of how to implement these changes.

"I don't believe we can tell the Irish electorate it does not matter if they accept the Nice treaty or not," Mr Verheugen said. "There is no plan B."

Additional reporting: