Sarkozy says Merkel is 'interested' in mini-treaty

French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy has claimed that his idea of a mini-treaty replacing the European constitution is now also raising interest with German chancellor Angela Merkel.

After talks with Ms Merkel in Berlin on Monday (12 February), the centre-right frontrunner in the French presidential race said that although Ms Merkel cannot publicly admit this, she is in fact sympathetic to his proposals for a slimmed-down version of the EU constitution.

"Of course we unde...