 Leaders of the demoralized European Union have agreed to extend the deadline for ratifying their troubled constitution, insisting they were determined to keep it alive despite French and Dutch "No" votes.
| "We're sure the common folk will come around, once we explain it all to them. If not, we can have their rulers approve it in their name." |
Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker announced after chairing the first day of a crisis summit that the 25 leaders had agreed that the treaty, meant to streamline EU decision-making, could not be ratified until at least mid-2007. "The date of November 1, 2006 initially foreseen for ratification is no longer tenable," Juncker told a news conference. Countries that were planning referendums would need more time to convince their publics, he said.
| "If that doesn't work, the prime ministers and presidents and such can just sign off and it'll all be legal." |
Denmark said it was cancelling a referendum due in September, an Irish government source said Ireland would cancel one due in the autumn, and Juncker said Luxembourg's parliament would have to think whether to go ahead with a July plebiscite. Sweden and the Czech Republic said they would delay ratification until the future of the treaty was clear. Europe would now enter a period of "reflection, explanation and debate" on citizens' expectations, and leaders would review the way forward probably in mid-2006, Juncker said. The summit was widely seen as a test of whether the enlarged Union could overcome the shock of the double referendum defeats, or whether political rivalries among its weakened leaders would leave it in limbo. |