EU leaders on Thursday were poised to delay a decision on the fate of the bloc's crippled constitution until the end of 2008.
A draft communique by the 25-nation bloc calls for extending a so-called "pause for reflection" through June 2007, with final decisions on the treaty's fate by the end of 2008 "at the latest."
With the EU deeply divided on whether to bury or resurrect the constitution following its resounding defeat in French and Dutch referendums last year, leaders looked set to side-step any firm decisions at their Brussels summit.
Instead, they were expected to call on Germany, which holds the EU's rotating presidency in the first half of 2007, to issue a report on the "state of discussion" on the treaty which will "explore possible future developments."
Recognizing that reviving the treaty -- if this is possible -- will be a long haul effort, leaders set no firm deadline for when the treaty would come into force.
This appeared to be a step backwards compared to calls from EU foreign ministers last month for the constitution to be approved and up and running by 2009.
Pointing to the EU dilemma, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the bloc's leaders were stuck.
"Some have said `no' and some have said `yes' and this is the reason we are not going to find a solution at this summit and why we are going to prolong the reflection period," he said.
A total of 16 of the 25 EU states have given a green light for the constitution, mainly through parliamentary ratification. All 25 must approve the treaty for it to enter into force.
Given that the last 12 months have produced progress over the constitution's fate, there is no guarantee that another year will be more productive.
"The period of reflection begun a year ago has ended without producing any consensus on the constitutional treaty, nor has any plan B been found," said European Parliament President Josep Borrell.
EU leaders will issue a "political declaration" on their "values and ambitions" at a summit in Berlin in March next year to mark the 50th anniversary of the EU's founding Treaty of Rome.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been outspoken with calls to preserve most of the original constitutional treaty text.
But Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot insists the constitution be radically slashed in scope and downgraded to a mere treaty status.
This would allow it to be approved by the Dutch parliament and prevent it from facing another referendum.
Turning to the other key issue at the summit, Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel denied the EU was setting up new obstacles to further expansion of the bloc.
French President Jacques Chirac and some of the old EU states insist that opening the bloc's doors to poorer cousins from south-east Europe must hinge on whether old members are capable of dealing with them and paying what are expected to be massive bills for developing their infrastructure.
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