Prodi to rally support for ambitious EU constitution

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi will today call for the ambitious scope of the draft European constitution to be retained, as negotiations on the future of the failed treaty enter their final phase.

Mr Prodi will address the European Parliament in Strasbourg, which also wants the basics from the original text, now under revision by national governments, kept in place.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency until the end of June, is stepping up her efforts to push leaders to agree on which parts of the draft constitution, ratified by 18 countries but voted down by the French and Dutch in 2005, can be salvaged and which need to be amended or dropped.

The treaty, which aims to streamline EU decision-making, enhance the bloc’s international role and prepare it to accept more member states, needs unanimous EU approval to take effect.

A more modest blueprint for future European integration is emerging compared with the groundbreaking ambitions of the failed charter.