A summit of confusion

For the German news magazine Der Spiegel, the results of the summit in Brussels are testimony to great confusion in the EU: "The EU wants to prevent Europe from coming to a standstill - and threatens to fail as a result. Although the plan is to achieve rapid ratification of the Lisbon Treaty in the remaining countries despite the Irish No vote, the summit in Brussels proved that the crisis is by no means over yet. ... It is indeed important to send the message to the European public that the Reform Treaty is not dead. But this is bringing things down to the smallest possible common denominator. Neither has a schedule been decided nor have the next steps been announced. ... One reason for the EU Council's hesitant stance is that no one has a ready-made solution. But what is even more important is to avoid conveying the impression that the EU wants to impose its will on the Irish. Yet it is already clear that there are only two ways out of the crisis: either Ireland drops out of the EU, which is not a serious alternative, or the Irish must hold a second referendum - on an altered treaty which includes certain exemptions."

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