EU leaders agree to keep on reflecting[fr][de] 

The former Commission President and newly elected Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, laid out the essential stakes in a few words after the first session of the EU summit, 15-16 June: "The real discussions on the constitution can only start under the German presidency and after French elections," Prodi said.

The German presidency runs in the first half of 2007, French elections are held in the spring of 2007. The French no-vote at the May 2005 referendum was the first stumbling block to the Constitution, and the 'états d'âme' of the French nation are thus set to remain pivotal for salvaging the Constitution.

Apart for agreeing that more time is needed, there was no real clarification in sight: "The substance of the constitutional treaty is good and it should be kept alive, but there's no consensus," admitted Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel.

15 EU nations have ratified so far, and some are eager to build on the Constitutional Treaty, whereas the Netherlands, whose citizens overwhelmingly voted it down in June 2005, will not submit the same text to a new vote.

Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot has argued that existing EU treaties could be adapted if the EU needs to take in new members.