Portugal backs bid to put EU constitution back on track
The Portuguese prime minister Jose Socrates has said that Portugal will take up the challenge of reviving the EU constitution during its presidency in the second half of 2007, following announcements from Germany that it will do the same during its stint at the EU helm in the first half of that year.
"The project of the constitutional treaty was signed by the 25 member states and it would not be right [to forget it]", said Mr Socrates to his national parliament, according to AFP.
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He added the government would propose a programme of action to revive the EU constitution in January.
The Portuguese move adds impetus to recent strong calls for a revival of the charter from Berlin, which will take up the EU presidency in January 2007.
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has proposed to attach a declaration on the "social dimension of Europe" to the failed EU constitution, in a bid to save the charter and stimulate discussion on the topic.
Germany and Portugal are likely to draw up a common working programme for their 2007 presidencies, as the 2006 Austrian and Finnish presidencies have also done.
EU leaders agreed on a so-called reflection period on the EU constitution, after French and Dutch voters rejected the documents in referendums in May and June this year.
The reflection period will be evaluated at an EU summit in June 2006, and until that time, the incoming Austrian presidency has made clear it will not actively push for the adoption of the charter.
