(TALLINN) - Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves on Thursday gave his country's final seal of approval to the EU's Lisbon Treaty, a set of EU reforms torpedoed by Irish voters in a referendum last week.

"With the ratification Estonia has given its firm support for a stronger EU," Ilves said in a written statement.

The Estonian head of state said Estonia's final ratification of the Lisbon Treaty was highly symbolic as EU leaders gather in Brussels to decide how to proceed after the Irish "No" to the key document.

EU leaders have urged continued ratification of the treaty, despite the Irish vote.

"There are no simple solutions, but the solutions exist and the EU has to find them jointly," Ilves said.

"We cannot leave the EU without a common and strong foreign policy and without a strong decision-making mechanism," he added.

A day before the Irish referendum, Estonia's parliament voted overwhelmingly in favour of the treaty, meant to streamline decision-making in the 27-member bloc after its east- and southward expansion.

It is to replace the EU's draft constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, plunging the bloc into one of its worst crises in its half-century history.

All 27 EU nations must ratify the Lisbon Treaty if it is to come into effect on January 1 as planned.

Due to provisions in its national constitution, Ireland was the only country obliged to hold a popular vote on the treaty.

Along with seven other ex-communist states, Estonia joined the European Union in May 2004 -- 13 years after breaking free from the crumbling Soviet Union.

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