EU takes time out to 'pause for reflection'

The EU is to “pause for reflection” for up to two years in a crisis that signals the demise of Europe's constitution.

Europe’s leaders will next revisit the issue in Spring 2006 as the EU’s constitution deadline of November next year gets kicked into the long grass.

Luxembourg’s Prime Minister and EU presidency holder Jean-Claude Juncker hinted that a new constitution deadline could be over two years away.

“After the ‘non’ and the ‘nee’… the November 1 date… is no longer tenable. Those that haven’t ratified won’t be able to do anything until mid-2007,” he said late on Thursday night.

“Time has to be allowed on top of time already pencilled in.”

A new deadline of mid-2007 for countries that have so far failed to ratify the constitution may, many take the steam out a trend to European rejectionism after French and Dutch no votes.

Both France and the Netherlands are due to hold national elections in 2007 and a change of leadership in the Elysée and The Hague may help persuade voters to think again.

All 25 EU heads of state and government contributed to lengthy Brussels summit dinner discussion on the constitution’s fate.

And, according to participants not a single national capital spoke out for a formal halt to the ratification process.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso warned Europe’s citizens that no votes would not see a new EU deal.

“We reaffirmed that there is no alternative to this constitution,” he insisted.

Luxembourg’s EU presidency insists the “pause” is not a suspension and will be a period of reengagement.

Juncker – who faces a possible constitution referendum of his own on July 10 – claimed that French and Dutch voters had not really rejected the constitution.

“I really believe that neither the French nor Dutch rejected the constitutional treaty,” he told journalists.

“Unfortunately the electorate did not understand the constitutional treaty was aimed at answering their concerns.”

French President Jacques Chirac stressed that the two-year breathing space might allow Paris to around the ‘non’ vote.

“I hope that we can take a pause for reflection that will allow us to regain the confidence of the citizens of Europe,” he said.

EU diplomats stress that no date has been set for Europe's "pause for reflection" amid continuing disagreement on how to proceed.

"Some countries are in deep denial about what has happened," said one source.

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