Berlin wants EU constitution adopted under new name

Germany wants to have the EU constitution ratified across the EU by 2009, suggesting a change in the name of the charter to "Basic treaty for Europe," according to a German daily.

Die Welt reports that German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has indicated Berlin will present a "strategic plan" for ratification of the constitution at the end of its EU presidency, in early summer 2007.

The treaty should then be ratified in 2009 at the latest, probably under the name "Basic ...