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Merkel 'convinced' EU needs a constitution
 Chancellor Angela Merkel called Wednesday for reviving the failed European Union constitution but admitted that next year's German EU presidency would not achieve any breakthrough on the issue. "I am firmly convinced we need a constitution," said Merkel after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso about Germany's programme for the EU presidency, which Berlin holds during the first half of 2007.Dutch leaders have called for the text to be radically reduced in scope and for removal of the name "constitution". France is not expected to make any new moves on the constitution until after French presidential elections in May 2007. Merkel admitted that Germany would not be able to clinch any final constitutional deal during its EU presidency which ends on June 30, 2007. Instead, Berlin would seek to hammer out a "roadmap" for further moves on the treaty, she said. The German leader rejected Dutch calls for a stripped-down text. "It must be something which deserves the name constitution and not merely an institutional set of rules," said the chancellor. Posted by: Seafarious 2006-10-12 |
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