Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen pleaded for more time to work out what to do to help end the European Union's reform crisis, after Irish voters rejected the treaty at a referendum last week.

Cowen said that he had barely begun the process of consulting EU leaders on how to overcome the turmoil sparked by Ireland's stunning rejection of the charter a week ago.

"It is far too early yet for anyone to put forward proposals," he told reporters at an EU summit in Brussels.

A week ago, more than 53 percent of Irish voters rejected the treaty -- which is meant to streamline the way the EU functions as it grows -- technically finishing it off, even though 19 other countries have endorsed it.

A further blow would probably send the EU spiralling into another period of political limbo as it did when French and Dutch voters rejected the draft constitution -- the precursor of Lisbon -- three years ago.

The EU leaders did receive a boost earlier Thursday when Britain approved the text, which would create a longer-term president and more powerful foreign policy supremo.

They pledged to give Ireland the time and space to seek a way out of the institutional crisis, and no-one was expecting a solution to materialise at the two-day summit.

However, the EU heads also warned against prolonged institutional "navel-gazing" which could deflect from real policy-making at a time of soaring prices and concerns over global warming.

Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt rejected the idea of setting an immediate fixed timetable for dealing with the treaty problem.

"Do not push on time limits now, let's await answers in the autumn," he said. That would probably mean the next EU summit in October.

But Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin said his government did not anticipate having any solutions by then.

"We will bring a progress report to the October summit but we do not anticipate solutions on the table in October," he said.

In an effort to galvanise her partners, German Chancellor Angela Merkel underlined that the treaty is a vital reform tool which all nations must strive to adopt.

"We must see to it that treaties in the European Union are developed together unanimously. There is no other way," she told parliament before heading to Brussels. "We need the Lisbon Treaty."

Twelve conservative EU leaders, including Merkel, Italy's Silvio Berlusconi and French President Francois Fillion, issued a joint statement saying the European Union "should continue the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty."

Most of the seven member states still to ratify the treaty are keen to forge ahead with the process, but question marks remained over the Czech and Polish ratifications.

The Czech Republic, whose eurosceptic President Vaclav Klaus has already declared the treaty finished because of the Irish vote, represents the most serious obstacle.

Poland's President Lech Kaczynski has also delayed signing the document, even though parliament has endorsed it, and he might yet refuse outright.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering said he believed the treaty, which was due to come into effect in January, could yet come into force via European parliamentary elections in mid-2009, but others think this unlikely.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker -- Europe's longest-serving leader -- appeared most pessimistic.

"I'm concerned because of all the scenarios for getting out of this crisis that I have seen, none of them really please me," he told reporters.

There is a growing feeling that the Irish must find some way to ratify the treaty, perhaps via a second referendum with the pill sugared a little for sceptical voters.

To show Europe's citizens that the EU machine is not stalled, the leaders were set to express their concern over high fuel and food prices, and recommend that nations take "short-term and targeted" measures to combat it.

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