Barroso: "Er komt geen Europese grondwet in de nabije toekomst" (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso i appears to have written off the chances of the EU constitution being revived in the near future, indicating that the bloc will have to make do with its current treaty.

Speaking at the 25th anniversary of the anti-communist movement in Poland on Wednesday (31 August), Mr Barroso said "In the foreseeable future we will not have a constitution. That's obvious. I haven't come across any magic formulas that would bring it back to life".

"Instead of never-ending debates about institutions, let's work with what we've got. Political will and leadership are more important than institutions", he is quoted as saying by Polish daily Rzeczpospolita.

His remarks are the most openly pessimistic yet by a top politician in the EU about what will happen now with the constitution, since it was rejected twice in referendums before the summer break.

Mr Barroso's comments also go against a general trend in the bloc to insist that member states are just going through a "period of reflection" - something agreed by EU leaders at a summit in June.

Although this resulted in Denmark, Ireland and the UK putting their planned referendums on ice, the conclusions at the time noted that the event did "not call into question the validity of continuing with the ratification processes".

Luxembourg prime minister and head of the EU at the time, Jean-Claude Juncker, said "we all believe that the constitution is the right answer to the many questions of the European people".

During his visit to Poland, Mr Barroso also noted that no significant commission decisions have been blocked since enlargement last year.

This puts a direct hole in the argument by those in favour of reviving the constitution that an EU of 25 is unworkable under the current Nice Treaty, renowned for its complex voting system and the many areas where unanimity is needed to get a decision.

It runs counter to many other publicly expressed opinions, as well. Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schussel recently suggested that the constitution could be put to the vote in both France and the Netherlands again in 2007, once lessons have been learned from the rejections.

The leader of the centre-right EPP, the biggest group in the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pottering, expressed a similar opinion yesterday when he said that French and Dutch voters should not be allowed to dictate to the rest of the EU.

Commission spokesperson Françoise le Bail said Mr Barroso was "simply stating a fact".

She told the EUobserver "It's very unlikely that either of the member states in question is going to put the question back to the voters, so it's difficult to see how soon we'll have a constitution".

She said that the commission "would have been happier with the constitution" but said the Nice treaty "continues to work".

The 448-article constitution was negotiated over a two-year period with member states, MEPs and MPs. It introduces a new less complex voting system, a permanent chair of the EU, an EU foreign minister and greatly extends the powers of the European Parliament to co-legislate with member states.

To date, 13 countries have ratified it - but it needs all 25 for it to come into effect.

EU leaders agreed to tackle the whole issue of what to do with the constitution once again in 2006.