BRUSSELS—European Union leaders must press ahead with ambitious policies on climate change and energy to counter surging oil prices and help overcome the political setback of Ireland's "No" to the EU reform treaty, the European Commission chief said on Wednesday.
Addressing the European Parliament on the eve of a two-day summit, Jose Manuel Barroso said the 27-nation bloc should not fall into "institutional navel-gazing" over last week's Irish referendum result. The EU should keep on ratifying the text while pursuing a policy agenda that responds to citizens' needs.
"The important task for the European Council (summit) is to show that the "No" vote regarding the Lisbon treaty is not an excuse for inaction. We should not have paralysis," he told the EU legislature in Strasbourg.
Barroso was heckled by a handful of Eurosceptical lawmakers, mostly from Britain, who wore green T-shirts with the logo "Respect the Irish vote".
In Paris, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon, whose country takes over the rotating EU presidency in July, said the bloc could not afford to remain "stunned and paralysed" by the Irish vote but said its message had to be heard.
"We have to learn how to build Europe differently," he told the French parliament. "Building Europe differently means showing European citizens that Europe does not just amount to institutional quarrels," he said.
EU president Slovenia said leaders would make every effort to agree on a timeline for resolving the problem caused by Ireland's "No" vote to a treaty which requires unanimous approval to enter into force.
In Dublin, Prime Minister Brian Cowen said he would tell his peers that Ireland could not be rushed into a quick fix.
"I will impress upon them the need to avoid prejudicing the process which we must now undertake in Ireland," he told the Irish parliament.
Britain and several other countries suspended ratification of the draft EU constitution in 2005 after France and the Netherlands rejected the charter in referendums. By contrast, London plans to ratify the Lisbon treaty this week.
'Learn From Failure'
As truck drivers and farmers staged go-slow protests with lorries and tractors around Brussels to highlight demands for action on soaring fuel costs, Barroso said the summit would back short-term measures to help the poorest sectors of society.
But he insisted governments must do nothing that would prevent their economies adapting to the reality of higher oil prices, which he said were here to stay.
"Let us learn from the failure of previous oil shocks... when after the oil shock we went back to business as usual."
The EU is in the midst of negotiating a complex package of laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions, promote renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, liberalise its internal energy market, and improve energy efficiency.
Europe's main business lobby added its voice on Wednesday to green campaigners and politicians urging the EU to reconsider one of its main energy targets in the light of soaring food prices.
"BusinessEurope considers that the current high food prices give additional weight to its call for the EU to reconsider the 10 percent target for biofuels in transport, especially in the absence of a breakthrough in second-generation technology," the organisation representing 20 million companies in Europe said.
In parliament, Socialist leader Martin Schulz called for disciplinary action against Irish European Commissioner Charlie McCreevy for saying during the campaign he had not read the Lisbon Treaty and did not advise voters to do so.
Barroso did not defend McCreevy's comment but warned against a blame-game over the Irish defeat.
"Let's not find scapegoats. True, I did not find Mr McCreevy's statements very fortunate. But I might say the same about statements by certain national politicians that weren't particularly helpful," he said.
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