Europarlementariërs verdeeld over toekomst grondwet (en)

EUOBSERVER / STRASBURG - MEPs are divided about the future of the EU constitution after its double rejection last week, a meeting of the constitutional affairs committee on Monday (6 June) showed.

While some MEPs called for the continuation of the ratificaton process in the remaining 15 countries, others called for a new Convention to be summoned to revise the constitution or just insisted it is "dead".

To Johannes Voggenhuber, an Austrian Green MEP, the result of the French and Dutch rejections of the treaty "was a 'No' on a European Constitution, it was not a 'No' on the process".

Jo Leinen, a german socialist and Chair of the Commitee, set an optimistic tone noting that "there is a good chance that by the end of the year we will have 18 or 19 ratifications under our belt".

Andrew Duff, a UK Liberal, argued that the European Council should suspend the ratification procedure after the Luxemburg referendum and summon a new Convention to revise the treaty, which would later be subject to simultaneous referenda "by all the member states obliged to hold them".

Other MEPs argued that the EU's credibility would be undermined if the EU put the breaks on the ratification process.

To James Hugh Allister, a UK Non-attached MEP, the constitution is simply dead, "like it or not".

Another vote is "yesterdays dinner"

A tough question on the table was why should the French and the Dutch be subject to another vote on the treaty - like the Irish and Danish were in the past - while the Spanish, who voted favourably but with less influence than their northern neighbours, would not.

Pushing through a re-vote "is humiliating to member states", said Danish eurosceptic Jens-Peter Bonde.

"No president of the French republic will accept the task of handing out yesterday's dinner for today's lunch", warned French MEP Jean-Louis Bourlanges.

Ten countries have already ratified the treaty (Austria, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain) representing around 50% percent of the EU's population. Spain was the only country to ratify the treaty by national referendum.

Luxemburg is where the next constitutional battle will take place with a referendum planned for 10 July.