For the third time since joining the European Union and the first time in seven years, Portugal will be presiding over a community that now totals 27 member states. Should the number of EU states remain unchanged, Portugal will next assume the presidency in 2020.

A number of initiatives have been set aside for Portugal's sixmonth stint at the helm of the EU presidency that starts this Sunday. But the single most important event of this presidency could be the ratification of a EU reform treaty.

Should this treaty be ratified between now and the end of the year, it is most certain to be recorded in the history books as the ‘Lisbon Treaty', as it has already been termed by Portuguese President Cavaco Silva.

However, both the president and prime minister, applauding the European Union's compromise stance over the weekend over a Reform Treaty to be prepared under Lisbon's oversight, say it is "premature" to talk about how the document will be ratified, the Lusa News Agency reported.

"It's premature to raise the question of ratification before we have a treaty, because one doesn't define the form of ratification before knowing the treaty, and because that would limit the conditions of the Portuguese (EU) presidency to conduct a debate of 27 to achieve a treaty", Prime Minister José Sócrates said on Sunday, one day after the historic compromise was reached at a summit in Brussels.

Speaking to journalists, Mr Sócrates dismissed reminders from opposition parties that he had promised a referendum, saying his pledge had been in reference to a "Constitutional Treaty", like the one defeated in French and Dutch referendums in 2005.

"I think the best is to wait and see what treaty we get", he said adding that what the opposition wanted was to "anticipate scenarios", a move that would "create difficulties for the work we have ahead of us".

Portugal assumes the EU presidency with the responsibility of overseeing the drafting and approval of a so-called Reform Treaty.

"The priority", Mr Sócrates said, "is to transform a mandate into a treaty".

Taking a similar stance, President Cavaco Silva said on Saturday, during a visit to the United States, that he hoped Europe would get a reforming "Treaty of Lisbon" and that concerns about the form of ratification should await the outcome of the negotiations.

He praised the Portuguese delegation to the Brussels summit, which was led by the prime minister, as having defended Portugal's positions "very well".

The Portugal News