Sarkozy throws down gauntlet to Poland over EU treaty

(PARIS) - French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Saturday urged his Polish counterpart to ratify the European Union's Lisbon Treaty, despite Ireland's rejection, as France seeks to resolve the first crisis of its EU presidency.

Less than a week after taking over the helm of the 27-nation bloc for six months, France has seen its long-planned projects, such as a new Mediterranean Union, overshadowed by the institutional paralysis caused by the Irish 'no' vote.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski earlier this week said he would not ratify the EU reform treaty unless Ireland approved it in a new referendum, whilst the deeply eurosceptic Czech president is also holding out against ratification.

"I'm not ready to put the European flag back in my pocket ... to renounce the European ideal which has brought prosperity, peace ... and an end to one of the bloodiest dictatorships known, that of Marxism and Communism," Sarkozy said.

"President Kaczynski is an honest man and a head of state: he signed (the treaty) in Brussels, he must ratify it in Warsaw, it's a moral question," said Sarkozy, referring to the bloc's long negotiations in Brussels that led to the signing of the treaty's text in December.

Sarkozy was speaking at a meeting of his UMP party near Paris at which the French leader set out his priorities for France's six-month EU presidency, which began on Tuesday.

"I have confidence in the Polish president. We will go on, we will find solutions ... and get to a point where we convince the Czechs to ratify as well," Sarkozy continued.

"In Europe, we are one big family of 27: our role, the three of us is to lead those 27 together," he added, addressing EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Hans-Gert Poettering, president of the European Parliament, who also attended the UMP meeting.

The bloc's reform treaty agreed to in Lisbon in December is designed to streamline EU decision-making in an organisation that has expanded from 15 to 27 members since 2004. It must be ratified by all member states.

However, in a June 12 referendum Irish voters rejected the treaty and now the bloc and the Dublin government must decide what to do next.

"We must make a collective effort to finish the process of ratification," said Barroso. "Once the process is completed, we can talk with our Irish friends."

"If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together," he added, in an oblique warning.

Poettering told the meeting that the bloc must respect the states that have already ratified the treaty, adding that without the treaty, "it will not be possible to allow new members to join the EU."

The crisis over the bloc's reform treaty threatens to overshadow France's EU presidency for the rest of the year, pushing other priorities aside, unless a solution is found soon.

Sarkozy spoke by telephone with the Polish president on Friday and Kaczynski said Poland "would not be an obstacle to ratifying the treaty," the French president's office said.

Both the upper and lower houses of the Polish parliament ratified the treaty in April, but it also needs the president's signature to take effect.

There is also strong resistance in the Czech Republic, where eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus is lobbying hard for parliament to scupper ratification.

At the moment, Prague's ratification process is blocked while the Constitutional Court determines whether Lisbon conforms to the Czech constitution.