Irish voters dealt a stunning blow to the European Union's grand reform plans Friday by rejecting a new treaty and plunging the bloc into a new crisis.
Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen said there could be "no quick fix" after his country voted down the Lisbon Treaty, which was designed to replace the EU constitution torpedoed by French and Dutch voters three years ago.
"We must not rush to conclusions... The Union has been in this situation before and each time has found an agreed way forward," he said, shortly after figures confirmed the "no" victory with 53.4 percent of votes.
"There is no quick fix," he added.
Despite the poll rejection the European Commission insisted that the treaty was still "alive" and that EU leaders will discuss the crisis with Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen at a summit next week.
"The European Commission believes that the remaining ratifications should continue to take their course," Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso, noting that 18 out of 27 EU states have already ratified it.
But Irish "no" campaigners insisted the referendum result was definitive, since all 27 EU members had to ratify the treaty for it to come into effect.
"The Lisbon treaty is finished," said Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, whose Republican movement was the only one in the Irish parliament to campaign against the EU treaty.
Rejection leaves the EU -- whose leaders meet in Brussels next week -- facing a new crisis like that which followed the 2005 Franco-Dutch snub to the EU constitutional treaty.
After that setback the European bloc went back and redrafted the treaty, dropping the word "constitution" and making changes which they said responded to concerns reflected by French and Dutch voters.
But sceptics accused them of a cosmetic exercise to get their plans -- including notably a full-time EU president, a streamlined Commission and changed voting weights -- past their electorates.
Thursday's referendum in Ireland -- the only EU country to hold a public vote -- was welcomed by euroskeptics across the continent.
"The Irish people have rejected the Lisbon Treaty," said Irish businessman Declan Ganley, a key figure in the "no" campaign. "It is a great day for Irish democracy", he added.
"This is democracy in action... and Europe needs to listen to the voice of the people," he said.
Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a well-known eurosceptic, said the ratification process was finished.
"The project of the Treaty of Lisbon ended today with the decision of the Irish electorate and it is no longer possible to continue with its ratification," he said in a statement.
EU heavyweights France and Germany meanwhile expressed regret over the Irish result -- but voiced hope that other EU states would continue ratification of the text.
"We take note of the democratic decision of the Irish citizens with all due respect, even though we regret it," French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a joint statement.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said the result was "not good news", but said a solution would be found. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said London would continue with its ratification process.
Ireland has caused EU upsets before. In 2001, its voters rejected the Nice Treaty, though the result was overturned in a second poll the following year.
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