Strasbourg - There will be no new treaty drafted to reform EU institutions if the Lisbon Treaty is not ratified, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Thursday before the European Parliament in Strasbourg. 

"The next European Parliament elections (in June 2009) will be held either under the Nice Treaty or the Lisbon Treaty. There will be no new treaty," Sarkozy told EU parliamentarians. 

The French president addressed the parliament to lay out France's programme as president of the union, a role Paris assumed on July 1. 

The Irish rejection of the Lisbon treaty had created "an institutional problem" for Europe, Sarkozy said, and indirectly criticized the Irish for letting its voters decide the fate of the treaty in a referendum. 

"The institutional questions of Europe are an affair for parliaments, not for a referendum," Sarkozy said. 

He also personally criticized Polish President Lech Kascynski for his decision not to sign the Lisbon Treaty because of the Irish rejection. 

"He helped draw it up. He gave his word that he would sign it. This is not a political question: it's a question of morality," Sarkozy said. 

The French president said he would travel to Ireland on July 21 to discuss ways out of the impasse with Irish leaders, and that he would propose a solution "either in October or December." 

He also reiterated his belief that there should be no farther enlargement of the EU unless the union adopts new institutions to deal with an enlarged membership. 

"It was a mistake not to give Europe new institutions before enlarging (in 2004)," he said. "We are paying for this today." 

Although the Croats and Serbs were Europeans, they would not be admitted to the union unless the Lisbon Treaty is adopted first, he said. 

"First Lisbon, then enlargement. This is not a question of blackmail." (dpa)