President Sarkozy added that the European Union's guarantees by law to the people of Ireland would be in addition to the Croatian EU accession treaty, and he suggested that Croatia is likely to join the EU in 2010 or the year after.
At the EU summit meeting held in Brussels just last week, it was decided that the Republic of Ireland would be given "legal guarantees" on a range of matters if the Irish would promise to hold another referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
President Sarkozy said that if it all goes to his plan then "the Lisbon Treaty will become a reality only one year late."
The Czech Republic, Ireland and Poland are the only EU member states that haven’t ratified the treaty yet.
