Ireland must hold a second referendum on the Lisbon treaty, Nicolas Sarkozy told colleagues yesterday in the clearest sign of a European Union plan to try to save the document ratified by 21 other countries.

A second vote would have to take place in an attempt to reverse Ireland's rejection of the treaty last month by a margin of 53.4 per cent to 46.6 per cent, the French President told MPs from his party at a private meeting.

Mr Sarkozy, who is acting as chairman of the EU while France holds its presidency for six months, has denied in public that there is a secret plan to force a second vote and has said that the solution must be proposed by the Irish Government at the next EU summit in October. “The Irish will have to vote again,” he was reported to have told a meeting in his office — words that are likely to inflame public opinion in Ireland, which Mr Sarkozy will visit on Monday.

His trip is billed as a listening exercise, but Irish voters may now wonder whether Mr Sarkozy and other EU leaders have already made up their minds. Details emerged in Paris of a plan to stage a rerun of the vote.

Sinn Fein described Mr Sarkozy's comment as “deeply insulting to the Irish people”. Aengus Ó Snodaigh, a spokesman, said: “In the month since the Irish people voted overwhelmingly to reject the Lisbon treaty, we have listened to a succession of EU leaders lining up to try and bully and coerce us into doing what they want.”

William Hague, the British Shadow Foreign Secretary, said: “It would be extraordinary if Irish voters were made to vote twice on this EU treaty before British voters got to vote once. The EU needs to remember that asking people to vote again and again until you get the answer you want doesn't look very democratic.”
Full article here.. www.timesonline.co.uk