Ireland Eyes Lisbon Demands, EU Partners Worried

The Irish government submitted the draft text on Monday on issues such as taxation, abortion and military neutrality.

Ireland said on Monday it was confident it would receive assurances at a European Union summit this week to ease Irish voters' concerns over the EU's Lisbon reform treaty and allow a referendum on it to go ahead.

But some countries are not yet satisfied by a draft text outlining the legal guarantees that Ireland is seeking to help ensure Irish voters do not for the second time reject the treaty, intended to streamline EU decision making.

The Irish government submitted the draft text on Monday on issues such as taxation, abortion and military neutrality. It also wants guarantees it will continue to have a representative on the executive European Commission.

The government has identified these as areas of concern for voters who opposed the treaty in a referendum in June last year and is widely expected to hold a new referendum in late September or October.

"The response has been very positive so far," Irish Foreign Minister Michael Martin told reporters of the draft text after meeting other the EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg.

But the draft, obtained by Reuters, does not address the concerns of some nations which fear the guarantees could undermine the validity of ratification procedures already completed in most other EU member states.

One EU diplomat involved in preparing the two-day EU summit, or Council, which starts on Thursday told Reuters the draft was "still very vague".

"The legal status of the guarantees is still being discussed and there will be a meeting at level of ambassadors to look into the legal form of these guarantees," Bruno Le Maire, a French junior minister, told reporters.

"The talks are not finished and a decision will only be made at the end of the week at the European Council."

MEETING ON TUESDAY

EU envoys will meet in Brussels on Tuesday to discuss the draft text submitted by Dublin.

Martin said Ireland wanted to "copper fasten" any agreement reached this week into a so-called legal protocol in the next EU accession treaty signed when a new country joins the 27-nation bloc -- expected to be Croatia next year.

States such as Sweden, Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic fear such a move would go too far and want a simple so-called international law treaty similar to one agreed with Denmark after its voters rejected the EU's Maastricht Treaty in 1992.

Danish voters ratified the treaty -- necessary at the time to allow the EU's expansion -- in 1993 after Copenhagen received opt-outs from some EU laws in the areas of monetary policy, defence, justice and human rights.

All 27 nations must ratify the treaty for it to come into force. Opinion polls suggest the treaty now has the support of most of the Irish electorate, many of whom who look to Europe as a shield in the global financial crisis.