Word: summiter
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...summit in Brussels, which ended on Friday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy used the treaty deadlock to say there was no point in continuing accession talks with Croatia and Turkey until the current 27 members could agree on their future. "Without the Treaty of Lisbon there won't be any enlargement," he said. "You can't say no to reforms and yes to enlargement...
...Sarkozy and other E.U. leaders are now pinning hopes of salvaging the Treaty on another referendum, perhaps in a year's time. Officially, the bruised Irish Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen was treated with sympathy at the Brussels summit, and there was universal recognition that the Irish vote had to be "respected". But behind the scenes, Cowen - tellingly banished to the far end of the family photograph of E.U. leaders - was alternately cajoled and bullied to run another vote...
...None of this makes Cowen's task any easier. He will now report back to the leaders at their October summit with either a road map charting a way out of the mess or a confirmation that another vote is pointless and the treaty must be declared dead...
...move would be very political and symbolic," says François Heisbourg, a military expert and special adviser to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in Paris. Heisbourg, who helped draft Sarkozy's military plan, predicted France would actually rejoin by the time of a Franco-German summit in March next year...
...most officials fear the vote will plunge the E.U. into a period of despondency and inertia. E.U. leaders are due to meet in Brussels on June 19, for a summit which was set to decide on key environmental and energy targets but is instead expected to be overshadowed by a fog of gloom. And unfortunately for the E.U., that looks unlikely to lift any time soon...