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.
ROCKY RELATIONS: The figures on residents come as Chinese tourist numbers drop following Beijing’s warnings to avoid traveling to Japan The number of Chinese residents in Japan has continued to rise, even as ties between the two countries have become increasingly fractious, data released on Friday showed. As of the end of December last year, the number of Chinese residents had increased by 6.5 percent from the previous year to 930,428. Chinese people accounted for 22.6 percent of all foreign residents in Japan, making them by far the largest group, Japanese Ministry of Justice data showed. Beijing has criticized Tokyo in increasingly strident terms since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last year suggested that a military conflict around Taiwan could
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
A retired US colonel behind a privately financed rocket launch site in the Dominican Republic sees the project as a response to China’s dominance of the space race in Latin America. Florida-based Launch on Demand is slated to begin building a US$600 million facility in a remote region near the border with Haiti late this year. The project is designed to meet surging demand for the heavy-lift rockets needed to put clusters of satellites into orbit. It is also an answer to China’s growing presence in the region, said CEO Burton Catledge, a former commander of the US Air Force’s 45th Operations
Germany is considering Australia’s Ghost Bat robot fighter as it looks to select a combat drone to modernize its air force, German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said yesterday. Germany has said it wants to field hundreds of uncrewed fighter jets by 2029, and would make a decision soon as it considers a range of German, European and US projects developing so-called “collaborative combat aircraft.” Australia has said it will integrate the Ghost Bat, jointly developed by Boeing Australia and the Royal Australian Air Force, into its military after a successful weapons test last year. After inspecting the Ghost Bat in Queensland yesterday,
RSS