EU charter on deathbed after ballot blows

BRUSSELS – The European Union is insisting its long-cherished constitution is not yet dead, but that stance looks increasingly untenable after the second crushing ballot blow by Dutch voters, analysts said yesterday.

Specifically it looks more and more likely that Britain, which takes over the EU’s rotating presidency next month, will push for the ratification process to be put on hold at a mid-June summit. “The treaty is probably on its deathbed,” said Marco Incerti of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think-tank, after the Dutch followed French voters in massively rejecting the EU charter.”It’s gone into a deeper coma.But to see whether its really dead we’ll have to wait until the summit when they’ll decide whether to unplug the life support machine.”Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who currently holds the 25-nation’s rotating presidency, said after Wednesday’s crushing Dutch vote that the ratification process must continue despite the double blow.The first-ever EU constitution, hammered out over three years of hard-fought negotiations aimed at preventing decision-making gridlock in the expanding bloc, must be ratified by all EU member states to come into force.”We want the process of ratification to continue, and I imagine that the heads of state and government will not fail to reiterate that at the European Council (EU summit),” said Juncker.But even he admitted that he could not forecast with any certainty what will happen, after the “no” votes in two of the half-century-old European project’s six founder states.”I have said that the patient is not dead,” said the Luxembourg leader, while adding that he did not want “to give a definitive assessment of his condition.”While other leaders also called for the ratification process to continue – including French President Jacques Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder – there was a notable absence of such a call from London.”The verdict of these referendums now raises profound questions for all of us about the future direction of Europe,” said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is due to make a statement on Britain’s referendum plans next week.Britain’s view could be crucial, since Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to take over the EU’s reins from Luxembourg on July 1.A decision by London to suspend its referendum plans could sound the death knell.”Yesterday’s result has strengthened the hand of the UK, among others, who are campaigning for a halt of the ratification process,” said Incerti.So what happens next? One of the main ideas circulating around Brussels’s crisis-hit corridors of power is of “cherry picking” elements of the constitution which could be agreed piecemeal by EU leaders.This could, for example, include the creation of a new job of EU foreign minister – widely expected to be current foreign policy chief Javier Solana – as well as changes in the power-balance between the EU’s key institutions.- Nampa-AFP”The treaty is probably on its deathbed,” said Marco Incerti of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS), a Brussels-based think-tank, after the Dutch followed French voters in massively rejecting the EU charter.”It’s gone into a deeper coma.But to see whether its really dead we’ll have to wait until the summit when they’ll decide whether to unplug the life support machine.”Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who currently holds the 25-nation’s rotating presidency, said after Wednesday’s crushing Dutch vote that the ratification process must continue despite the double blow.The first-ever EU constitution, hammered out over three years of hard-fought negotiations aimed at preventing decision-making gridlock in the expanding bloc, must be ratified by all EU member states to come into force.”We want the process of ratification to continue, and I imagine that the heads of state and government will not fail to reiterate that at the European Council (EU summit),” said Juncker.But even he admitted that he could not forecast with any certainty what will happen, after the “no” votes in two of the half-century-old European project’s six founder states.”I have said that the patient is not dead,” said the Luxembourg leader, while adding that he did not want “to give a definitive assessment of his condition.”While other leaders also called for the ratification process to continue – including French President Jacques Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder – there was a notable absence of such a call from London.”The verdict of these referendums now raises profound questions for all of us about the future direction of Europe,” said Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is due to make a statement on Britain’s referendum plans next week.Britain’s view could be crucial, since Prime Minister Tony Blair is due to take over the EU’s reins from Luxembourg on July 1.A decision by London to suspend its referendum plans could sound the death knell.”Yesterday’s result has strengthened the hand of the UK, among others, who are campaigning for a halt of the ratification process,” said Incerti.So what happens next? One of the main ideas circulating around Brussels’s crisis-hit corridors of power is of “cherry picking” elements of the constitution which could be agreed piecemeal by EU leaders.This could, for example, include the creation of a new job of EU foreign minister – widely expected to be current foreign policy chief Javier Solana – as well as changes in the power-balance between the EU’s key institutions. – Nampa-AFP