Millions who watched the European constitutional treaty expire on the barricades of Paris a year ago are in for a surprise. This week, after a year’s pause for reflection, the European Union’s leaders will keep the remains on life support. Once next year’s French and Dutch elections are over, the EU, under the chairmanship of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, will try to breathe new life into the project.
More than half the member states have already ratified the constitution. Others, such as the Czechs and Poles, with sceptical governments, will take some persuading that it is worth saving. Neither the French nor Dutch governments could face another referendum. So the options range from coming back to the same text, but calling it something else, to picking out only those bits that are needed for the enlarged EU to work.
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