The French and German leaders yesterday said the EU could maintain the momentum for eastward enlargement of the Union despite Ireland's rejection of the Nice Treaty.
In a joint statement after their summit in the southern German town of Freiburg, the German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, and the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, ruled out any renegotiation of the treaty, saying the eastward enlargement of the EU was "an irreversible process".
"We will work with the Swedish Presidency to ensure the enlargement process remains irreversible and gains a new dynamic," Mr Schroder said after the one-day summit.
The two leaders used the meeting to agree positions ahead of next Friday's EU summit in Gothenburg, but the fall-out from the Irish referendum dominated the agenda.
Mr Chirac said the two leaders were "determined that the ratification of the treaty would not be delayed".
"We place our trust in the ability of the Union to overcome this impediment," he said.
The two leaders addressed two recent points of friction with Washington, ahead of the visit of President Bush to NATO headquarters in Brussels today and the Gothenburg summit.
They said the EU would stand by the Kyoto Protocols concerning emissions of gases believed to cause global warming, and called on other countries to do the same.
In a statement, the two governments addressed another bone of contention with the Bush administration, the US proposal for a national missile defence shield.
Mr Schroder and Mr Chirac called for an EU initiative to stop the spread of missile technology, saying: "The risks of ballistic proliferation necessitate a strengthening of the multilateral instruments of non-proliferation".
The two leaders proposed organising an international conference to examine the threat posed by ballistic missiles once the EU has agreed a common position.
Yesterday was the third time the French and German leaders have met since relations between the two countries hit an all-time low during the Nice summit.
It was also the first meeting between Mr Schroder and the French Prime Minister, Mr Lionel Jospin, since they published their competing ideas for the future development of the EU.
