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EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The EU is unlikely to agree concrete solutions to the institutional impasse created by the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty before the end of the year, the bloc's initial discussion on the issue has shown.
Prior to the top-level meeting in Brussels on Thursday, some member states had been pushing to have Dublin present a plausible exit strategy to the crisis by the next EU leaders' meeting in October.
But Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin poured cold water on the idea.
"Obviously the Council meeting in October will be an opportunity to make a progress report, but I would not anticipate solutions by October," he said.
"That very much depends on the analysis and the outcome of engagement and contacts between now and then. We will certainly be exploring options and ideas," he added, noting: "We just don't have a ready-made solution."
After hearing a lengthy analysis by Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen explaining what he thought were the reasons for the Irish No vote one week ago, leaders appeared to accept a loosening of the timetable.
"It's very sure that we won't set any deadlines," said Janez Jansa, Slovenian prime minister and current head of the EU.
Referring to legal challenges to the treaty in both the Czech Republic and Germany, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso admitted: "We cannot say exactly when the ratification process will be
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." ~~John 15:5~~