LISBON FALLOUT:THE EU could offer Ireland concessions or opt-outs from core policies if it would help the Government win a new referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
However, the current holder of the EU presidency, Slovenia, said yesterday that it did not expect any options to be put on the table at an EU summit on Thursday.
"It is possible in the future, although it is only one of the possibilities," said Slovene prime minister Janez Jansa.
"It is almost certain nothing so concrete will happen at the European Council because this is not the time to come up with concrete proposals before we do a detailed analysis of why the referendum outcome was negative."
Mr Jansa also suggested that the Government could have done more to explain to voters what was at stake in the referendum.
"From Slovenia's own experience with referendums, very often motives get mixed up with many things which do not have a lot to do with the referendum issue. That makes the responsibility of those leading the campaign even bigger," he said.
The comments contradict statements made yesterday by Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin at an EU foreign ministers' meeting when he said that no one pointed the finger of blame at the Government. It is becoming increasingly clear that officials in Brussels and in other EU capitals believe that the Government failed to run an adequate referendum campaign on the treaty. "Despite all the talk of solidarity there really is not a lot of good will out there towards the Government," one EU official told The Irish Times.
At the weekly college of commissioners meeting in Strasbourg - which is held behind closed doors - commissioner Margot Wallström circulated the findings of a phone poll showing that 40 per cent of No voters said they didn't understand the treaty and many held irrational fears about what it could mean.
She told fellow commissioners that member states needed to do more to communicate with their citizens about Europe and stop paying lip service to the commission's communication strategies.
Trade commissioner Peter Mandelson also criticised the Government for running a poor campaign. He pointed out that it had not even used the information that he provided about Ireland's right to veto a global trade deal until it was too late and a lot of damage had been done.
France and Germany are quietly hoping the Government will consider holding another referendum in the spring before the next European elections on the basis of several opt-outs from core EU policies or declarations explaining how the Lisbon Treaty does not affect Irish tax or abortion laws. But British diplomats are more cautious, believing that a second failed referendum could provoke a serious EU crisis.