Europe News

Spain and France urge fast progress on EU treaty (1st Lead)

May 31, 2007, 16:23 GMT

Madrid - Spain and France on Thursday downplayed their differences on the European treaty, urging rapid progress on the issue. An agreement was needed 'as soon as possible,' Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy during the latter's one-day visit to Madrid. 'Europe has to advance,' Sarkozy agreed, adding that Europe needed 'a new treaty.' French and Dutch voters rejected the European constitution in 2005 referendums, and Sarkozy now wants to trim the treaty down, while Spain opposes reducing it to a technical document emptied of political content. Madrid wanted to preserve 'the essential content' of the treaty, Zapatero said, conceding that it would have to be a 'possible' text based on a 'maximum consensus.' 'We will all have to cede something,' the premier added. Sarkozy stressed that France had not made its own draft, but a proposal for a text would have to be tabled by the German European Union presidency. Zapatero gave his support to France's idea of a Mediterranean union comprising its northern and southern flank. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Spain and France urge fast progress on EU treaty (1st Lead)

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