Sintra, Portugal - Portugal has pushed German Chancellor
Angela Merkel for progress in her attempts to rescue the European
Constitution, which failed in 2005 after being rejected in referenda
in France and the Netherlands.
The German government had to secure a 'precise mandate' by the 27
member states by the time it hands over the EU presidency to Portugal
on July 1, Portugal's premier Jose Socrates said during a meeting of
EU leaders in the Portuguese town of Sintra near Lisbon.
Otherwise, Portugal would not continue consultations on the
constitution during its own EU presidency, he said at the talks
attended by Merkel, EU Commission President Jose Manual Barroso, EU
Parliamentary President Hans-Gert Poettering, and Slovenian Premier
Janez Jansa.
Slovenia is due to succeed Portugal in taking over the EU
presidency in January 2008.
Efforts to salvage the EU constitution, so far ratified only by 18
of the 27 member states, have been stalling since it was voted down
in France and the Netherlands.
Many countries hope to stick with the text in its current form,
but others were strictly opposed.
In a farewell visit to Paris, outgoing British Prime Minister Tony
Blair on Saturday threw his support behind plans by French president-
elect Nicolas Sarkozy to push for a simplified 'contract' rather than
a full constitution.
With only seven weeks to go in Germany's presidency, Merkel has
not yet delivered any suggestions for a new draft for the failed
documents. As a result, it could be left up to Portugal to call a new
government summit for negotiations on a new text.
Largely pro-Europe and keen to adopt most of the existing text,
Portugal itself has not yet ratified the old document, waiting for
the ratification of other member states.
The meeting in Sintra had been initiated by EU commission
president Barroso, who originally intended talks on a larger scale in
his home country Portugal.
Following opposition from several member states, however, the
informal meeting had been reduced to include the heads of the EU
institutions as well as the current and incoming EU presidencies.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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