June 13, 2008: Press Release on the Results of the Referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the Republic of Ireland

Even though the rejection of the Lisbon Treaty in the Irish referendum represents a political complication, the European Union has a stable contractual basis which provides for its further standard functioning. The consequences of the negative outcome of the referendum and future procedures must be discussed at the forthcoming European Council meeting to be held in Brussels in June. We definitely do not regard the Irish “No“ as less serious than the previous French and Dutch “No“.

The Czech Republic is carrying on with its preparations for its presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2009 as we have been working with both eventual variants of the result of the ratification process since the very beginning.

Mirek Topolánek, Prime Minister of the Government of the Czech Republic