EU to resume informal constitution talks

EU foreign ministers are to hold informal talks next week on an EU constitution, foreign minister Brian Cowen, said today.

The meeting will be the first since a bid to finalise the text collapsed last month, when the EU summit failed to reach agreement due to a clash over voting rights in the Union, which is set to grow from 15 to 25 members in May.

Mr Cowen said the talks next week will not be a formal continuation of the intergovernmental conference (IGC), which failed to strike a deal at the December summit.

"It will not be a formal meeting of the IGC. There will be no papers and I do not intend to draw any conclusions," he said.

"But it will be an important signal that the works continues."