The European Union can and must agree on its proposed constitution in a form as close as possible to the text presented by its drafting convention, the French President Mr Jacques Chirac said today.
This agreement is necessary and possible today
The French President Jacques Chirac
The French President Jacques Chirac
Mr Chirac told a news conference he hoped EU leaders would agree on the text at their next summit in June.
"This agreement is necessary and possible today," he said, adding that the document should be "faithful to the ambitions of the high quality text drafted by parliamentarians in the Convention headed by Valery Giscard d'Estaing."
Mr Chirac did not mention the possibility of a French referendum on the constitution in his opening remarks.