German Chancellor Angela Merkel's announcement that the "reflection period on the EU Constitution was over" and that the German Presidency would aim for a deal by 2009 has met with fierce opposition.
Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga told Dziennik that Poland rejects the current treaty and that the best way out of the impasse is to draft a new one. Fotyga added that Poland is currently drafting its own proposition and would present it by end of February 2007.
A UK government official, speaking to The Times, said that the EU is far from being "out of order, as many member states seem to think". The official argued that decisions are taken each month and that EU's future was in no way dependent on an insitutional reform.
Poland has categorically refused to adopt the current EU Constitution as it thinks that the Council's revised qualified majority voting system would undermine its influence in the EU.
UK Prime Minister Tony Blair favours a simple Constitution that could be passed without a referendum. However, it will be up to Chancellor Gordon Brown, who is seen as more Eurosceptic than Blair, to decide, as he is set take over as prime minister in summer 2007.
18 out of 27 EU members have so far ratified the EU Constitution.
