EU: EU foreign ministers said yesterday the EU constitution may have to be amended and undergo a name change to be acceptable to citizens.
At a meeting in Vienna ministers also agreed there is no chance of resurrecting the constitution until after general elections in France and the Netherlands next year.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said any amendments would aim to retain the main points of the existing treaty, which seeks to streamline decision-making within the enlarged EU. But he said the constitutional treaty's name may have to be changed from "constitution" for a treaty to enter into force by 2009.
"We in Germany live with a basic law which does not carry the title 'constitution' but has the same legal quality. It's a possible starting point," said Mr Steinmeier.
Germany takes over the EU presidency in January and will make the first serious attempt at resuscitating the constitution after elections in France and the Netherlands.
Finland, which takes over the EU presidency in July, is also open to a name change.
"Everybody agrees it was a mistake to call it a constitution, so that would be a very sensible change if that were needed," said Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioj.
Fifteen EU states have ratified the draft constitution but the rejection of the treaty in referendums in the Netherlands and France last year threatens to make it redundant.
Under EU rules all member states must ratify a treaty before it can come into effect. Paris and Amsterdam say they will not offer the same treaty to voters in a second referendum while states that have ratified the constitution want it introduced in full.
A period of reflection introduced after the referendum defeats last year is due to end in June and EU leaders will meet in Brussels next month to try to find a way forward.
But EU foreign ministers and the European Commission played down the prospect of agreeing a detailed timetable to overcome the current constitutional problems in June.
"We have made progress during our period of reflection but honestly it is not possible to get a clear consensus about the future of the constitutional treaty at the moment," said European Commission president José Manuel Barroso at the end of the foreign ministers' meeting.
He said there were two possibilities: Europe could become depressed and cynical or move forward and create the best possible conditions to agree a future constitutional treaty. Mr Barroso said the clear consensus among ministers was to move forward.
However, the commission's recent proposal to remove the national veto on certain justice matters - an element included within the text of the existing constitutional treaty - encountered opposition from several foreign ministers.
Germany told foreign ministers it had problems in renouncing its national veto in judicial matters because of its own constitution. Several others states, including Ireland, said they did not agree with "cherry-picking" elements of the draft constitution, ahead of the implementation of the constitutional treaty in full.
"If you start to take parts out of the treaty, then you run the danger of the whole thing unravelling," said Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern.
"We feel there is strong resistance to 'cherry-picking' from the draft treaty." Mr Barroso said the ability to give up the national veto in this area was already included in the existing EU treaties.