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In a resounding defeat for the treaty, only ten out of 43 Irish constituencies voted in favour of the Lisbon Treaty. A majority of Irish people - 53.4 percent - voted against the EU's Lisbon treaty in Thursday's referendum, while 46.6 percent voted in favour, according to final results released Friday (13 June). Participation was at 53.13 percent.

Labour: 'Lisbon is dead' His Yes coalition ally, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, however disagreed with Mr Cowen that it should be "full-steam ahead". "The Lisbon Treaty is dead," he said in a separate RTE interview. "Ireland cannot ratify it – therefore Lisbon falls." "This has to be recognised by everybody – by the Taoiseach [the Irish prime minister], by other member states." "This proposal is now gone." Other Irish politicians were scornful of the idea of continued ratification. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso earlier in the afternoon had said the remaining ratifications "should continue to take their course."

The French Senate's foreign affairs and defence committee on Wednesday (11 June) moved to scrap a clause introduced by parliamentarians in May that would have made it compulsory to hold a referendum on EU membership of large countries, in particular Turkey. The committee said that the provision introduced by the National Assembly as an amendment to a constitutional reform package "could appear to be directed against a friendly state and ally of France, that is Turkey," and is "likely to cause grave harm to diplomatic relations between France and this country."

The final decision will be taken in July when the upper and lower houses gather for a congress meeting. The text has to be agreed by a three-fifths majority.

There is great fear in the hearts of treaty supporters on the continent that the Irish, who have benefited from EU largesse arguably more than any other member state, may spurn their benefactor once again as they did when they rejected the Nice Treaty seven years ago.

UK millionaire Stuart Wheeler's attempt to force a referendum in Britain on the Lisbon Treaty via a High Court order have been defeated.

"We have found nothing in the claimant's case to cast doubt on the lawfulness of ratifying the Lisbon Treaty without a referendum," said the judges in their decision, with the treaty now set to become UK law after its parliamentary and royal approval earlier this month.

Separately, while the Lisbon Treaty may have received good news from the UK court, Czech president Vaclav Klaus has said the treaty "cannot come into force."

Der Verfassungsvertrag ist in vier Teile gegliedert, die einen sehr unterschiedlichen Charakter und Umfang haben. In den Teilen I und II des Vertrags werden grundsätzliche Fragen geklärt, die eher verfassungspolitischer Natur sind. Neben diesen grundsätzlichen Bestimmungen fasst der Vertrag über eine Verfassung für Europa in einer kompakten Weise alle Regeln zusammen, die in den bisherigen Verträgen zu einzelnen, konkreten Aufgabenbereichen der EU enthalten sind. Dies erklärt, warum der Verfassungsvertrag so umfangreich ist.

The EU's enlargement commissioner on Thursday allayed fears in Croatia that the bloc's internal reforms will impede the country's bid for membership by 2010. In his third visit of the year, Olli Rehn also stressed urgency in reform efforts, particularly in the judiciary and public administration, as well as the fight against corruption.

Teilnehmer aus den 18 Mitgliedstaaten, die bislang den Verfassungsvertrag ratifiziert haben, kommen am 26. Januar 2007 in Madrid zusammen, um Wege aus der Verfassungskrise zu suchen. Die Initiative ist bereits auf breite Kritik gestoßen. 

Brussels is shifting the political focus onto Croatian internal reforms as a potential barrier to speedy EU entry, while brushing under the carpet its own problems with institutional capacity after the constitution failure.

Croatia's bid for EU membership has received a boost from MEPs determined to make sure that their report criticising the European Commission's overall enlargement strategy does not undermine Zagreb's prospects for joining the club. An enlargement report approved by the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee on Thursday (23 November) "welcomes the progress made by Croatia on its way into the European Union.

With just a month to go until Ireland's second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, a poll has shown that 46 percent support a yes vote, down eight points since May. Published by the Irish Times, the TNS mrbi poll shows a rise of one point in those saying they plan to vote No to 29 percent with the Don't Knows registering at 25 percent, up seven points in comparison to a pre-summer survey.

For his part, Mr Cowen has met with the main opposition parties to work out how to make the most effective Yes campaign ahead of the 2 October poll. He has also tried to persuade to voters to rise above their feelings for the government and concentrate on the issue at hand in the referendum. "I don't believe this is about the future of this government or the future of personalities, it's about the future of the country. This is not politics as usual. It goes beyond any issues of party, organisation or locality. It is about our country's future," said the prime minister on Wednesday (2 September).

The presidents of both the European Commission and the European Parliament on Wednesday (25 March) urged the Czech Republic to proceed with the ratification of the EU's Lisbon Treaty despite the fall of the Czech government the day before, while Czech deputy premier Alexandr Vondra admitted the ratification would now become "more difficult."

"I would like to urge all political leaders not to use this political crisis in a way to make the Lisbon Treaty hostage to domestic problems. That would not be fair to the other countries of Europe," Mr Barroso said at a press conference in Strasbourg.

The Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany and Poland comprise the four countries that have yet to complete the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty.