Finns hint that European Constitution could be back on table

EUROPE'S Constitution could be back on the agenda later this year.

No formal decision about whether to shelve the treaty is likely to be taken until after elections next year in France and the Netherlands, the two countries that voted No to it.

However, in a surprising move, the Finns have said they would like to put it on the table for the summit of EU leaders in October during their presidency.

Finnish PM Matti Vanhanen discussed the issue with the Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso at the weekend. Mr Vanhanen, who is the only current prime minister who was on the convention that drew up the Constitution, said he does not favour breaking it up. "Cherry-picking is not the solution in my view."

Over the weekend, Austria attempted to break the silence that followed last year's No votes during a three-day conference in Salzburg with the slightly kitsch title of the Sound of Europe, playing on the music the city is famous for.

It coincided with the 250th anniversary of Salzburg's other famous export, Mozart. The three-day debate oscillated between the populism of the Sound of Music and the more classical Mozart.

It was a dramatic break with tradition and a different approach for the EU that is normally tangled up in grimy rows on VAT and tax, money and America. Instead, theatre directors, philosophers, conductors, sociologists, writers and of politicians discussed European culture and identity.

EU foreign relations chief Javier Solana maintained the pessimism is being overdone. However, historian David Cesarani said not just the EU but western civilisation is in crisis, since its basis, the Enlightenment, found its natural conclusion in the camps of Auschwitz.

The handful of politicians invited concentrated on the more mundane issues like getting the Constitution back on the road and making the Union more popular. Though Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende insisted that culture must not be ignored. "Everything is politics, but politics is not all", he said.

Mr Barroso described the quandary as a catch 22 situation. If the EU produces more wealth and jobs everyone will love it and adopt the Constitution.

However, it's not easy to achieve things without the institutional changes agreed in the Constitution.

For those who wondered why a European Union was needed at all, Javier Solana described the individual countries as political midgets but, working together, they could shape the global agenda from globalisation to foreign affairs.