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29th Mar 2024

Merkel promises 'fair' solution on EU constitution

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is determined to find a way out of the EU's institutional impasse before Berlin gives up the bloc's presidency at the end of next month.

Speaking before a meeting with Austrian leader Alfred Gusenbauer on Monday (28 May), Mrs Merkel said that it was important to her that "a fair compromise" is found.

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The chancellor went on to add that it is not only those who do not want certain elements in the treaty who should be setting the tone.

Those countries that hold certain things for important must also be heard, she said according to news agency APA.

Her comments come as the nine countries that have not ratified the EU constitution - including France and the Netherlands, which rejected it two years ago - have been setting the agenda for what should be in the revised document.

The UK - strongly opposed to an extension of qualified majority voting and to an inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights - has been making its views particularly clear, while Poland has been insisting that the ultra-sensitive voting system be renegotiated.

By contrast, the 18 that approved the constitution - aside from a brief get-together at the beginning of the year - have not put up such a strong public front in favour of the original text.

But according to the German chancellor, who is pushing for the bloc to have a new treaty in place by mid-2009 - Berlin as EU presidency has "many friends and partners, who also want an agreement."

Simplified treaty

With the June summit looming and the ambitious goal of getting the framework of a new treaty plus a timetable agreed, much of the discussion is now focussing on France's idea for a simplified treaty.

According to president Nicolas Sarkozy, who is energetically lobbying the idea among national capitals, the new treaty should keep proposals such as the EU foreign minister and the permanent president of the bloc, give the EU a legal personality and extend qualified majority voting.

Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, a strong proponent of the original more extensive constitution which Italy has ratified, gave his backing to these elements after meeting the French president on Monday – but shied away from using the expression simplified treaty.

Last week, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said that there was a consensus emerging around Mr Sarkozy's proposals.

But although the term "simplified treaty" is gathering political weight, national capitals have differing ideas about what it covers, with issues such as the extent of qualified majority voting in any new document set to be one of the hard fought issues at the June summit.

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