Portugal pushes Merkel for progress on EU constitution at mini summit

May 12, 2007, 14:39 GMT

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.