European Union foreign ministers acknowledged on Saturday there was no chance of rescuing the EU constitution before elections next year in France and the Netherlands where voters have already rejected the charter.
All 25 EU nations have to ratify the charter for it to come into force and a poll in the Netherlands on Saturday showed that if a fresh referendum were held now, more voters would oppose the constitution than did in last year's ballot.
Reuters reported that Ministers meeting in Austria insisted the project, aimed at streamlining EU decision-making and boosting its foreign policy clout, was not yet dead. But they saw no chance soon of breaking a political stalemate over its fate.
"We cannot say today it's dead because 15 democracies are not considering it dead," Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller said of the states which have ratified the charter despite French and Dutch "No" votes in referendums last year. Moeller said the EU would have to wait until France and the Netherlands had their national elections, around May next year, Reuters added.
The Maltese parliament had ratified the constitution in a unanimous vote on 6 July 2005. All three political parties in the country were in favour of ratification. Debate on the constitution focused on the question of whether there is a clash with traditional Maltese Christian values, and possible threats to Maltese sovereignty.
Germany, which takes over the EU presidency in January, said the results of those two votes had to be respected but signaled it would be ready to find a solution by the end of June 2007 if other EU states wanted it to. "For Germany -- and no doubt all those who have ratified the text -- it is essential to hold on to the political substance of the constitutional treaty," he told counterparts according to comments made available to the media, Reuters said.
German officials are looking for a winner to emerge from French elections with a strong enough mandate to take decisions on the way ahead for the charter by a June 2007 EU summit. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said that would potentially allow the charter to be finally adopted two years later, but Britain argues the EU would do better to focus its priorities elsewhere, Reuters said.
The deadlock has created a mood of crisis in Brussels. A recent poll showed barely half of Europeans see EU membership positively and many were concerned about the bloc's policy of inviting poorer states from the east to join. Furthermore, Reuters reported that foreign ministers were to study how to win back popularity for the EU by increasing cooperation in specific areas, such as boosting cross-border cooperation in crimefighting.
Other proposals include ideas to pool European consular resources available to travelers caught up in natural disasters, such as the 2004 southeast Asian tsunami, which hit thousands of European tourists.
Analysts say the EU enlargement has been the chief victim of the constitution deadlock, which some politicians have blamed for fuelling eurosceptic feelings in the EU and being a main factor why French voters rejected the charter, Reuters said.
The EU has taken a tougher tone toward would-be members. Last week it delayed until October a decision on whether Romania and Bulgaria can join the bloc in 2007, urging them to do more on administrative reforms and tackling organized crime. For future aspirants from Turkey to the Balkans, it says that even if they fulfil membership criteria, the EU itself may not be economically and politically ready to take them in, concluded the Reuters report.
Source: Reuters
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