EU:FRENCH PRESIDENT Nicolas Sarkozy last night set a June 2009 deadline for resolving Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty.
"We don't have much time," Mr Sarkozy said in a televised interview hours before assuming the six-month rotating presidency of the European Council.
"The Irish No complicates our task," Mr Sarkozy said. "All 27 of us agreed. Nineteen have ratified the Treaty of Lisbon. Our first priority is to circumscribe the problem to the Irish, that others continue to ratify. I am thinking of our Czech friends."
French officials fear the Czech president Václav Klaus might veto the treaty.
Alluding to his July 11th visit to Dublin, Mr Sarkozy continued: "I will go there to try to understand with them what we can do to sort out the situation. We mustn't hurry. At the same time, we don't have much time. What is the deadline? June 2009, because there are European elections."
Asked whether he would ask Ireland to vote again, Mr Sarkozy said: "I don't want to say it like that, because it will give them the impression I'm forcing their hand . . . I will see with them what we should do, but that takes time. We must know under what rules we will organise the 2009 European elections."
Until Lisbon is ratified by all 27 member states, the EU will remain under the Nice Treaty, Mr Sarkozy repeated. "There is no question of continuing to enlarge Europe if Europe is not capable of giving itself institutions," he said. "We already did it for enlargement to 27, and it was a mistake. I support enlargement to the east. But we should have reformed our institutions before enlarging."
Croatia would be the next country eligible for membership. "It's in the interest of Europe to enlarge towards the Balkans," Mr Sarkozy said. "That is a region which caused a World War. If you don't want Lisbon, you'll have Nice, and Nice is a Europe of 27, without Croatia. I want us to welcome Croatia, so we have to have Lisbon."
The French president said he would scupper a World Trade Organisation accord negotiated by European trade commissioner Peter Mandelson, which will be the subject of a WTO meeting later this month.
"The French must understand that these WTO talks have been going on for seven years," Mr Sarkozy said. "Until last August, the world had never known such a period of growth - six years of 3 to 5 per cent growth, without agreement [in the WTO]. Mr [Pascal] Lamy [the Frenchman who heads the WTO] and Mr Mandelson would like to make us accept an agreement which - listen to this - would commit Europe to decreasing its agricultural production by 20 per cent and its agricultural exports by 10 per cent. That means 100,000 jobs lost. I will not let it happen."
Advocates of the accord say it is necessary to give developing countries access to western markets.
"In a world where 100 million people don't eat their fill, and where a child dies of hunger every 30 seconds, you won't make me accept a decrease in agricultural production based on the argument of global economic liberalism," Mr Sarkozy said.
"All the more so because emerging countries must also assume responsibilities. They aren't lowering any of their barriers on industry or services."
Mr Sarkozy wants Europe to stop importing food from countries that do not enforce EU rules on traceability and animal well-being. "I am fed up with importing Australian beef," he said.
Returning to the main theme of his interview, Mr Sarkozy said: "We are outlining a Europe of concrete issues, which defends people, and not a Europe that makes them anxious. That is what I want to do in six months as president of the council, though I know I won't accomplish it completely. I want to provoke a healthy shock. The very idea of Europe is in danger if we don't protect Europeans."
Mr Sarkozy emphasised domestic solutions to the high cost of living and soaring fuel prices. In the run-up to the EU presidency, members of his government vaunted the idea of a "social Europe". But the president last night vetoed the idea, saying social policy was the prerogative of national governments, and that France, which has Europe's best healthcare system and a high minimum wage, would be dragged down if the EU set standards.