(ROME) - The Italian government hopes to ratify the EU's Lisbon Treaty before the current parliamentary sessions ends at the beginning of August, a foreign ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

"We hope that the treaty will be ratified as soon as possible, before the summer recess," Pasquale Ferrera told a press conference.

Roberto Calderoli of the Northern League, aligned to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's governing coalition, has said that his party will present a bill seeking a referendum.

The treaty constitutes "a serious abandon of sovereignty," Calderoli had stated.

Asked his response to that possibility, Ferrera replied that the government had "a large majority" in parliament.

Ferrera also expressed his desire to see "a positive vote" in Thursday's referendum in Ireland, adding that rejection would represent a "serious blow."

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