EU still squabbling over Irish guarantees on Lisbon Treaty

(BRUSSELS) - A week ahead of a key European summit, EU nations are still arguing over giving Dublin the political guarantees it wants to persuade Irish voters to back the reforming Lisbon Treaty, diplomats said.

London in particular is unwilling to draw up a new protocol for the treaty in case it relaunches debate on the Lisbon text itself which Britain and most other EU nations have already fully ratified.

The British and others "are concerned about the perils of reopening discussion on the treaty," one European diplomat said.

"Certainly it's obvious to some nations, the Czechs and the Poles for example that there could well be difficulties, it's not just the British government that has concerns," he added.

Ireland's ambassador to the EU was scheduled to present the other 26 European partners Thursday with a draft protocol explaining the promised guarantees.

However the meeting with his fellow ambassadors was called off until next Tuesday, the eve of the EU summit in Brussels.

"The Irish did not want to put forward a paper that would not be accepted. Then it could look as if they didn't get what they wanted," another source close to the issue said.

Irish voters last year rejected the Lisbon Treaty, designed to streamline a bloc which has almost doubled in size since the existing treaties were introduced.

Since then Dublin has been seeking legally binding guarantees particularly on social issues such as ensuring the EU could not impose abortion laws in Ireland or influence its policy of military neutrality.

Ireland also wants a guarantee that it will retain its EU commissioner as well as the country's low corporation tax regime, which has attracted job-creating inward investment.

Several states are also concerned about a declaration Dublin is seeking on Irish workers' rights, a very sensitive issue at EU level where the emphasis is on freedom of movement for workers.

The Irish have said they want a legally binding "protocol" to address their concerns. Such a device, while not part of the Lisbon Treaty itself, could be ratified later alongside an accession treaty whenever another country, Croatia or Iceland, joins the EU.

However with British Conservative opposition leader David Cameron seeking a referendum on the treaty there, it is feared that this would reignite the whole Lisbon debate.

There are similar fears concerning the Czech Republic and Poland whose eurosceptic presidents are yet to ratify the Lisbon text, as the protocol would have the same legal weight as the treaty itself.

Ireland, the only EU nation constitutionally bound to put the text to a referendum, plans to hold a second plebiscite in October.

Opinion polls say the 'yes' camp will win this time round as the former Celtic Tiger suffers badly from the economic downturn.

Some countries are suggesting that the Irish guarantees could be included in a simple "declaration" in the name of all 27 EU nations.

Another diplomat evoked the possibility of a text similar to the 1992 Edinburgh Agreement which offered Denmark policy opt-outs and thus allowed it to adopt the Maastricht Treaty after an initial "no" vote.