DUBLIN, IRELAND — European leaders were scrambling Friday to find a new path to a more powerful and manageable European Union after Irish voters rejected a treaty meant to bolster the alliance's government.
The rejection threw into doubt nearly a decade of efforts to overcome widespread public skepticism and develop a European constitution. The reforms would create a powerful European presidency and diplomatic corps and improve cooperation on law enforcement and defense.
Because the measure must be ratified by all 27 member states of the alliance, Ireland's rejection struck a potentially fatal blow. European leaders now face the prospect of resubmitting the treaty to hostile Irish voters or, to the dismay of all, renegotiating it yet again.
"It is clear that the Lisbon Treaty will not take effect on Jan. 1, 2009," Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, the EU's longest-serving leader, said after Irish voters rejected the treaty in a referendum 53% to 46%.
"It's a bad choice for Europe, and for Ireland," Juncker said.
Alliance leaders are scheduled to meet next week, and most vowed to proceed with winning ratification. In the end, however, the Irish vote left European governance in the same place it has been almost since the EU's birth: in paralysis and limbo.
"This is a leap in the dark," said Brigid Laffan, professor of European government at University College Dublin. "We don't know what will happen next."
The European Union was formed in 1993 as a loose alliance of countries seeking to expand three decades of economic cooperation into the spheres of security, justice, human rights and border control. Since then, it has grown in size, complexity and its ability to compete with world powers.
But, especially after 10 nations joined in 2004, the EU's traditional rule by consensus became unwieldy, even as demands grew for a more cohesive foreign policy, more assertive military cooperation, and decision making that could not be held hostage to a single dissenting country.
Eighteen nations have fully or partially ratified the treaty, which allows decisions to be made in many areas by qualified majority vote.
Ireland was the only nation whose constitution required a referendum, and the 1.6 million citizens who voted Thursday have thrown a wrench into plans for more than 490 million residents of Europe.
