Prodi: earlier IGC talks on cards if Irish say no again

Date: 05/07/01

By John Shelley

ROMANO Prodi has warned the EU may have to bring forward the date of the next round of treaty talks if the Irish people again reject the Nice treaty.

Speaking to MEPs at their monthly Strasbourg plenary session yesterday (Wednesday 5 July), the Commission President said that going ahead with enlargement without treaty reform was "politically" impossible. "I do not wish to dwell further on the views of the legal experts, who assure us we could go ahead with enlargement, simply by making small changes to the treaties," he said. If the Irish still say "no" to Nice in a second referendum expected next year, the EU would have to go back to the drawing board and renegotiate the deal. A rejection of Nice would also "inevitably delay" the accession process, he added. "If this should prove unavoidable we would have to bring forward the date of the next inter-governmental conference," he said. IGC talks are not scheduled until 2004.

Romano Prodi has warned the EU may have to bring forward the date of the next round of treaty talks if the Irish people again reject the Nice Treaty.