President Giorgio Napolitano on Monday urged the parliament he recently dissolved to ratify the Lisbon Treaty reshaping the European Union's institutions.
The head of state said the two chambers of parliament could still ratify the treaty even though national elections have been scheduled for April 13-14.
Napolitano, who wants the new Italian parliament to work on reforming the country's electoral law and other parts of the constitution, said it was crucial that all EU members approved the Lisbon accords by 2009.
''Italy must do its part, firstly by ratifying the Treaty, even in this electoral phase. It is essential that we arrive at European elections in a position to present citizens with the Union's new framework of objectives and rules,'' he said.
Napolitano appeared to refer to traditionally less enthusiastic EU members such as Britain when he stressed that ''no member state must fall short of its responsibility and the commitments made''.
''Time is passing and we can hesitate no longer,'' he said, adding that there had already been too many delays in reforming the EU's ground rules.
Originally called the Reform Treaty, the Lisbon Treaty was drawn up to replace the draft European constitution after that was thrown out by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
All 27 EU countries will be expected to ratify the Treaty in 2008 with a view to it coming into force in 2009. Hungary, France, Slovenia, Malta and Romania have already done so.
Napolitano, who was speaking at the University of Trento, had to break off his lecture at one point, apparently feeling unwell.
Encouraged by his audience, he continued his address a few minutes later sitting down and afterwards observers said he seemed to have fully recovered.
''It was that tunic that was too tight around the neck,'' he told an aide, referring to the academic robes he had been asked to wear by the university for the lecture.
