Future of EU charter on line at lacklustre summit

BRUSSELS, June 15 (Reuters) European Union leaders today differed at a summit on whether to set a deadline for rescuing the EU's moribund constitution, leave it in indefinite limbo or bury it.

A year after French and Dutch voters rejected the charter, the bloc remains split between a minority of countries who would prefer to ditch the charter and move on, and a majority who argue its reforms are vital for an enlarged EU to function.

The treaty, meant to adapt the EU's creaking institutions, designed for a six-nation community, to cope with enlargement, can only enter force with the assent of all 25 current members.

Leaders are set to agree on a lacklustre declaration extending a so-called ''period of reflection'' on the fate of the charter until after Dutch and French elections in May 2007, but they do not agree what should happen after that.

European Parliament President Josep Borrell said there was still no consensus on what to do with the constitution and ''no Plan B has emerged'', but he urged EU countries to go on ratifying the charter anyway.

Polish Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, on the other hand, argued for an open-ended pause.

''I am convinced that at this summit, we will simply extend the period of reflection. We will try not to prejudge how long this extension should be,'' he told reporters.

Asked whether the constitution was dead, Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said: ''Not yet. We must not be pessimistic. There is still time for some manoeuvring.'' CLOUD OVER ENLARGEMENT German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will try to relaunch the institutional reform debate under the German presidency in the first half of 2007, said she wanted the process to be complete by the end of 2008.

Germany wants to salvage as much of the treaty's content as possible, probably under a new name, but others doubt that is politically feasible.

Aside from a reform of EU voting rules which most states accept is long overdue, the charter contains more ambitious steps to give Europe a long-term president, a foreign minister and a diplomatic service.

Diplomats said France, the Netherlands and Britain, where the charter had little chance of winning favour with a sceptical public, would prefer no mention at all of the word ''constitution'' in the summit's final declaration.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot, who has repeatedly branded the constitution dead, told Reuters yesterday existing EU treaties could be adapted to ensure the bloc could take in new members.

France also favours making improvements to current rules.

On the opposing side are Germany and 14 others such as Spain, Belgium and Luxembourg who have ratified the treaty and insist two referendums should not be allowed to kill it.

Polls show the constitution debacle has damaged the bloc's image, with one recent survey showing only 49 per cent of citizens considered EU membership a good thing.

It has also cast a cloud over the policy of offering entry to neighbours to the east, whose lower cost workers many western Europeans see as a threat to their jobs. Western Balkan countries and Turkey are the next candidates to join.

REUTERS SY BD2246