EU Hopeful for Lisbon Treaty Compromise with Ireland by June

The Czech Presidency of the EU has expressed its hopes that by June it would have a compromise version of the Lisbon Reform Treaty acceptable to Ireland.

As the Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in a referendum in June 2008, the Czech Presidency is presently engaged in negotiations with Ireland and the other member states in order to make sure that the reforms planned in the Treaty would not affect Irish sovereignty.

In exchange for the compromise version, Ireland is expected to set a new date for a referendum before the meeting of European Council in Brussels in mid June, according to the Czech EU Affairs Minister, Stefan Fule, BGNES reported.

The new guarantees that the EU Presidency would offer in order to get the Irish voters to approve the Treaty have to do with preserving Ireland's neutrality, and its legislation in tax policy, labor rights, health care, educational standards, and the ban of abortion.

Meanwhile, a recent Irish Times/TNS poll has shown that 52% of the Irish would vote "yes" to the Lisbon Treaty in a new referendum, 29% would vote "no", and 19% were undecided.

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