French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen Wednesday to discuss issues related to the Lisbon Treaty following the crisis sparked by Ireland's rejection of the E.U.'s reform treaty in June, media reports said.
The two leaders will also discuss the current unrest in the financial markets, a day after Dublin stepped in to protect its banking sector by announcing a guarantee on all deposits.
Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner are also expected to attend the talks to be held in Paris. The meeting follows on from Sarkozy's visit to Dublin July when the two leaders agreed to meet again in advance of this month's European Council meeting.
Ireland is the only European Union state to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty -- aimed at streamlining the creaking institutions of the 27-nation bloc, which is currently operating under rules framed, before its 2004 eastward expansion, to include 10 mainly ex-Communist nations -- that has to be ratified by all member-countries.
Sarkozy, whose country holds the E.U.'s rotating six-month presidency, asserted in July he would not force Dublin to vote on the treaty again, but underlined the importance to find some kind of a solution before European parliamentary elections in June.
The Lisbon Treaty, drawn up to replace a failed constitution, would introduce an E.U. president and new foreign policy supreme, and reduce the number of national vetoes in E.U. voting.
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