EU summit approves legal guarantees for Ireland on Lisbon Treaty

BRUSSELS, June 19 -- Leaders from the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) approved here Friday legally binding guarantees for Ireland on Lisbon Treaty.

In a press conference after a two-day summit, European Commission President Jose Manual Barroso said that the Irish people got "all the assurances they need."

"This decision gives legal guarantees that certain matters of concern to the Irish people will be unaffected by the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon," said a conclusion document of the summit.

The guarantees would not lead to the re-opening

of the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in other EU member states.

"This Decision will not necessitate any re-ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon," the document said, adding that it "is legally binding and will take effect on date of entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon."

The summit spent a lot of time on the issue as other EU member states worried that the guarantees for Ireland would lead to the possibilities of renegotiating the treaty.

The guarantees concern the issues of tax, security and defence policy and the right to life, family and education, and other social issues including workers' rights.

"The guarantees must be sufficient in the light of the concerns of Irish citizens, yet they must not lead to the re-opening of the ratification process of the Lisbon Treaty in other Member States," the presidency said. "Thus, the text of the guarantees explicitly states that the Lisbon Treaty is not changed thereby.

The Irish voters rejected the Lisbon Treaty in June last year. The treaty, designed to reform EU institutions and streamline decision-making in the ever enlarging union, requires ratification from all 27 EU member states before it can come into force.

The endorsement of the legally-binding guarantees for Ireland paves the way for the country to hold a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in the autumn of this year.