BRUSSELS - Momentum grew on June 14 for European Union leaders to extend the deadline to ratify their troubled constitution and pause for thought after French and Dutch voters rejected it.
But EU diplomats said the 25 leaders may be too divided to agree a formal time-out when they meet on June 16 and 17. They may just adopt a permissive approach allowing each member state to go its own way at its own pace.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has suspended plans for a British referendum, called for a delay after talks with French President Jacques Chirac in Paris.
"I think it would be sensible if we agreed, in view of the 'No' votes in France and Holland ... that we should have this pause for reflection over several months so that we can give Europe the debate it needs and then the direction it needs," Blair told reporters.
It is unclear how many of the 13 countries that have not yet ratified or rejected the charter will go on with the process with polls showing dwindling public support. The treaty set a non-binding deadline of October 2006.
France and Germany have insisted so far that ratification should go on, but new French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on June 13 Paris was ill-placed to teach others lessons and each country should decide for itself.
EU president Luxembourg disclosed for the first time on June 14 it was considering some sort of breathing space rather than face more referendum defeats.
"If we rush ahead now, it may be that the decisions taken, however democratically, may make the situation more complicated," Nicolas Schmit, Luxembourg's junior foreign minister, told a European Parliament committee.
"We don't want to send a signal that the ratification process is halted, but maybe suspended, maybe slowed down."
Tsunami
Opinion polls in several countries due to hold referendums - Luxembourg, Denmark, Poland, Britain and the Czech Republic - have shown a surge in the "No" camp since French and Dutch voters gave the constitution the thumbs-down.
An internal commission analysis of polls published in those countries shows the anti-constitution wave threatens to turn into a tsunami, European Report newsletter said.
Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said the deadline to approve the charter, designed to make an enlarged bloc work stable leadership and a fairer voting system, should be prolonged indefinitely.
If this week's summit did not agree a clear way forward, Stockholm could delay its own parliamentary ratification due in December, he told Stockholm's EU affairs committee.
European Commission Vice-President Guenter Verheugen said the EU needed more time to consider how to proceed and would have to accept a delay in introducing the institutional reforms.
"The original goal of bringing the constitution into force in 2007 cannot be reached anymore," he told the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
"It would be quite wrong to impose tight time limits at this point. A whole series of countries simply need more time for discussion to restore public trust in Europe," he said.
Verheugen said he was worried by the widespread mood of disillusionment in the 25-nation bloc a year after it expanded into eastern Europe.
"The mood has changed everywhere where referendums are planned," he said. "Something really fundamental has happened. A feeling of discontent that has been building up for a long time has spilled over."
Combined with a wrangle over the medium-term budget for the bloc, that has raised a major question mark over how capable of functioning the EU can be.
"This crisis touches on something quite fundamental," Verheugen said. "We have to see leadership. At the moment, I have the feeling that the ground is shaking beneath our feet."
(Agencies via Xinhua)
