(MADRID) - Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Ireland's 'no' vote for the EU reform treaty "is not good news", but said a solution would be found.

"Without doubt it is not good news, but Europe will not stop," he said.

"I am convinced that, as has occurred at other times in the past in EU, we will find a solution among ourselves."

He also expressed his "respect for the sovereign will of the Irish people."

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Fernandez Teresa de la Vega said the ratification process would continue in Spain.

Political sources said the EU treaty should be ratified on June 26 by a large majority in the lower house of parliament, before passing to the senate in September.

Irish voters dealt a stunning blow to Europe's grand reform plans Friday by rejecting the new EU treaty, plunging the bloc into a fresh period of institutional crisis.

The Lisbon Treaty, designed to replace the EU constitution after it was torpedoed by French and Dutch voters three years ago, was rejected by 53.4 percent to 46.6 percent of voters in a referendum, according to official figures.

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