The crisis provoked by the Irish rejection of the EU's Lisbon Treaty will be resolved by the end of the year, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tuesday in Paris.
"During the course of the year, we want to present a solution," Steinmeier told reporters after meeting with his French and Polish counterparts, Bernard Kouchner and Radek Sikorski, in the French capital.
He said that there was no question of abandoning the treaty.
"We must look for some other way out with Ireland," Steinmeier said. "The smart thing for us to do is to give Ireland the opportunity to analyze the reasons for the results of the referendum (on the treaty) and then to make suggestions."
Sikorski said that the Poles also wanted to help in looking for a way out of the crisis. "Poland is back in the heart of Europe," he said.
The meeting, which was part of the regular "Weimar Tripartite" series of consultations, was also used to discuss the upcoming French EU presidency, which begins on July 1.
Other issues on the agenda included Afghanistan, NATO, energy security and the EU's relationship with Russia, reported dpa.