EU leaders put crisis-hit constitution plan on hold

EUROPEAN leaders last night effectively paused the process to ratify the EU Constitution, as they grappled with the crisis caused by heavy referendum defeats in France and the Netherlands.

As one of the most fraught summits in EU history continued late last night, a consensus was emerging that the process be put on ice.

Leaders were deliberating on how long that period would be, as it emerged the November 2006 deadline for all 25 EU states to ratify the process will not be met.