STOCKHOLM, Nov 28 (Reuters) - Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen said on Friday he hoped to find a way before a key EU meeting in December to assure the Lisbon Treaty rejected by Irish voters in June is ratified.
However, Cowen, on an official visit to Sweden, could not say whether this would mean a second referendum on the treaty, which is intended to streamline decision-making in the 27-nation bloc and whose rejection by Ireland stunned Europe.
"There are specific issues ... in relation to the Lisbon Treaty that I must continue to discuss with colleagues," Cowen told reporters after a luncheon with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.
"I hope that we can, in December, be able to outline the elements of a solution," he added.
The meeting followed a visit to Finland on Thursday and comes two weeks ahead of a Dec. 11-12 European Union summit.
An Irish parliamentary committee said on Thursday that Ireland could legally hold a second referendum on the treaty, a decision the Irish government welcomed.
"We must work more intensively now, and will be doing so over the coming days, to see in what way we can bring that (a solution) about," Cowen said.
But he declined to say whether those "elements of a solution" were in place as it would be inappropriate to anticipate an outcome before everyone in the EU had had a chance to consider them.
Efforts to modernise the EU, which has become more unwieldy as its membership has swelled, were dealt a severe blow by the Irish rejection. But there has been growing optimism in EU circles in recent weeks about a fresh effort to get all member states to ratify the treaty.
Cowen said he could not say if Ireland may be able to hold a second referendum on the treaty.
"We're really not in a position to be definitive at this stage," he said.
But he said the Irish appreciated their country was better off thanks to its membership of the bloc and the euro zone.
"Certainly the European Central Bank has been critical, pivotal, in Ireland being able to content with the turbulence that this financial crisis has generated. And I think it has brought home to the Irish people how fundamental the European Union is to our progress and to our development," he said.
Asked what some of the elements of a solution might deal with, Cowen listed institutional arrangements, social and ethical issues, security and defence and tax issues.
Ireland held a second referendum in 2002 on the EU's Nice Treaty and voters approved it after rejecting it the first time around in 2001.
(Reporting by Adam Cox; editing by Michael Roddy)