Constitution plan on pause, but not yet dead

EUROPE’S leaders pressed the pause button on the proposed constitution last night, but insisted that it was not yet dead.

Instead they agreed at yesterday’s summit in Brussels try and to sell it better to EU citizens after the French and Dutch comprehensibly rejected it last month.

They also agreed it would not now be possible for every country to ratify the document by November 2006, the date they agreed just a year ago.

Instead the ratification process has been put on hold while the leaders consider their next step.

Much of the debate centred around whether to insist that everybody ceased their ratification process.

However, it appeared likely that it would be left to each country to decide whether to proceed or not. It was not immediately clear when the Irish Government will make its decision.

The Danes, who were due to hold a referendum in September, were ready last night to call off their vote and it was expected that Ireland would follow.

Malta was the only country which was anxious to continue the process.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern urged that a period of pause instead became a period of engagement, when citizens would be educated about the constitution.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has been accused of being too quick off the mark in calling off his referendum, talked about engaging people in the core issues.

The problem for the leaders is how will they defrost the constitution they have now put on ice.

The agreement of all 25 member states is needed if the constitutional treaty is to come into force.

The French President, Jacques Chirac, was more low-key in his approach than was expected.

He agreed with the need for a period of reflection and most noticeably did not rule out a second referendum. However Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende indicated he could not return with the same document to the people a second time.

Mr Chirac’s notes were leaked to the media in advance of the meeting. They called for a special summit and referred to the difficulty of an enlarged Europe if the institutions were not adapted as proposed in the constitution.

However he did not say this during the meeting, which was described as calm and business-like.

The prospects for future enlargement remain to be resolved. While Romania and Bulgaria are expected to join in 2007 and negotiations are due to open with Turkey in October any references to this were being removed from the conclusions of the meeting.