President Luxemburg verwacht hervatting IGC na de zomer (en)

The Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Jean-Claude Juncker, has said that no attempt to restart talks on the Constitution should be made until the second half of the year.

In an interview with German daily, Financial Times Deutschland, Mr Juncker cited Spanish elections in March and the European elections in June as reasons to delay further negotiations.

"No matter how you do it, a genuine restart of the Constitutional negotiations will only begin under the Dutch Presidency", he said.

The Netherlands will take over the EU helm on 1 July 2004.

Breathing space required

After the collapse of negotiations on Saturday - over the issue of voting power in the future EU - leaders agreed that a period of reflection was needed.

Ireland, whose EU Presidency begins on 1 January, has been asked to consult with other EU states and present an assessment of the state of play by March.

But there is growing speculation that another meeting of leaders will not be held until after the European elections in June.

The European Commission warned governments yesterday against dragging discussions on the Constitution beyond 2004.

Work goes on

But there are important issues to be dealt with also in the second half of the year.

Chief among these will be negotiations on the make-up of the EU's budget for the five or seven years from 2007.

These talks - never easy at the best of times - are expected to be especially awkward after the events of last weekend.

Mr Juncker said, "I would not put any bet on when an agreement could be made on the finances or on the Constitution".

But he emphasised, "the debate must not lose its momentum".

Luxemburg may yet find itself involved in the Constitutional mire as its Presidency begins in January 2005.