EU extends deadline for ratifying constitution
European Union leaders have extended the November 2006 deadline for ratifying the EU constitution, seeking to salvage the treaty by arguing a period of reflection was needed following its rejection in French and Dutch referenda.
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, speaking on behalf of EU leaders, said they accepted the treaty would not be ratified by all 25 nations by November 2006, as previously planned. But he said late yesterday that with more time, voters could be persuaded to fall in line.
“There must be a period of reflection, explanation and debate,” he said. “The process of ratification continues. There will not be a renegotiation because there was never was a ’Plan B.’ But there is a ’Plan D’ for dialogue and debate.”
“I am optimistic it will be possible to persuade people the constitutional treaty is the right instrument for the future.”
The Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said the union needs “time to settle down and re-engage with people”.
As part of the strategy to salvage the treaty by buying time, Denmark announced it would indefinitely postpone its referendum on the charter. Portugal announced early today it also would put its vote on hold.
EU leaders apparently fear other countries could follow the French and Dutch “nos” if made to vote by the previous November 2006 deadline.
Juncker said countries would now be allowed to hold their votes when they judged the moment to be “opportune”. Some countries may not be able to “give us a good response before mid-2007,” he said. EU leaders will take stock of the situation again next year, he added.
EU leaders may be hoping that presidential elections in France and parliamentary elections in the Netherlands in 2007 could clear the way for revotes there.
The constitutional treaty can take effect only if all 25 nations ratify it either in a parliamentary vote or by referendum. Just 10 nations have done so.
The French “no”, the first in Europe to the charter, and the Dutch “nee” three days later threw the EU into disarray and exposed a yawning gulf between the European elite and voters worried about unemployment, sluggish economic growth and competition from rising powers like China.
They are also fearful that the EU’s expansion eastward is going too far, too fast.
But Juncker said there "will no be a better treaty”.
Disagreements over how to pay for and share the EU’s budget also hung over the two-day meeting of presidents, chancellors, prime ministers and foreign ministers.
European leaders had said a budget agreement was needed to help the bloc bounce back from the French and Dutch “nos”.
Failure to agree on the 2007-2013 budget would deepen the sense of crisis triggered by the French and Dutch votes, and reinforce impressions that the 50-year process of European integration has lost direction.
