EU gives Ireland more treaty time but Czechs block progress

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BRUSSELS, June 20 (AFP): EU leaders have agreed to postpone till October a decision on the bloc's Lisbon Treaty, rejected by Irish voters and further threatened by a eurosceptic Czech president, according to a draft deal Friday.

But the document, prepared for a European Union summit in Brussels ending later Friday, sidestepped the issue of what exactly should be done by the seven countries that have not yet ratified the treaty.

During a lengthy first-day summit session, which ended in the early hours, Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen pleaded for more time to plot a way out of the EU's reform crisis, following last week's "no" vote which plunged the bloc back into institutional crisis.

"The European Council agreed to Ireland's suggestion to come back to this issue at its meeting of 15 October 2008 in order to consider the way forward," said the draft statement seen by AFP.

In it the leaders noted that while 19 EU nations have ratified the treaty, meant to streamline the way the bloc operates as it expands, "more time was needed to analyse the situation."

"The ratification process continues in the other countries," said the only reference on whether to forge ahead, in a document which could yet change in what is expected to be a day of political wrangling.

It made no reference to the importance the leaders attach to the treaty, nor did it send a strong signal that the seven remaining countries were united in their determination to press ahead.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, after a working dinner Thursday dedicated to the problem, noted that the leaders had met "particular difficulty" with the Czechs.