Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern has launched a fresh campaign to persuade voters to support a key treaty on expanding the European Union.

Europe's been good to us, and I don't see why we should have it within our call to give other people a ferocious kick in the ankles

Bertie Ahern

The government released a reworded second referendum that added a constitutional ban on Ireland taking part in any EU common defence policy, believed to be a key objection in the first vote on the Nice Treaty.

Irish voters caused consternation among EU governments last year when they failed to ratify the treaty.

Mr Ahern won assurances from other EU leaders at their summit in Seville this year that the treaty would not affect Ireland's status as a neutral country.

Majority needed

The Nice Treaty will expire if it is not ratified by all EU nations before the end of the year, and a negative result is bound to delay the hoped-for admission of 10 new members in 2004.

"If Ireland fails to ratify the treaty by the end of the year the European Union will be faced with an unprecedented and unpredictable crisis," Mr Ahern told Ireland's National Forum on Europe.

Ireland is the only country which needs the support of a majority of voters to ratify the treaty.

But the prime minister said the country - which has benefited from large amounts of EU development aid - was in danger of appearing selfish.

"Europe's been good to us, and I don't see why we should have it within our call to give other people a ferocious kick in the ankles," he told state broadcasters RTE.

"The applicant countries have worked so hard for a decade to achieve this - and it's within our power to tell them to go to hell."

The Nice Treaty was thrashed out at a European summit in the French city to pave the way for enlargement.

Ireland was the only country to put the treaty to a referendum. Italy has also so far failed to ratify it.

Only one in every three voters turned out in the June 2001 referendum, with 46% voting yes and 54% voting no.