Germans Face Pressure to Revive Eu Treaty

European leaders yesterday rekindled the debate on the EU constitution and found themselves heading for a bruising battle over whether to revive the project, which has been in cold storage since its rejection by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Spain and Luxembourg stirred things up when they called for the 18 countries that have ratified the constitution to hold meetings early next year.

"We are getting bigger, but we also need to get better," the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said.

Madrid and Luxembourg are hoping to persuade Germany, which has ratified the constitution, to save the measure during a formal review to be launched when Berlin assumes the EU's rotating presidency on January 1.

The initiative met with a hostile response from the Netherlands, a crucial voice because Dutch voters rejected the measure in a referendum last year. The Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, said the initiative ignored those who voted no. "The charter in its current form is unacceptable," he said at the EU summit in Brussels. "This [plan] should not be allowed to gather momentum."

Berlin hopes to set out a timetable on how the EU will reform its inner workings by the time Portugal takes over the presidency on July 1. But the timing and the political climate in Europe will make that difficult.

No real progress can be made until France elects a new president in May, weeks before the EU summit in June, when Berlin hopes to set out a timetable. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, will use her grand coalition to put out feelers to the frontrunners. SPD ministers will talk to the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, and CDU ministers to the likely centre-right candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Even if those talks go well EU countries are sharply divided. Mr Sarkozy is arguing for a mini-treaty that would include the main institutional changes in the constitution, including a change to national voting strengths, an end to the rotating presidency, the creation of an EU foreign minister and an elected president of the European council.

Other countries say the constitution will unravel if it is unpicked. Britain will be wary of anything that fails to mention elements it pressed for, notably a commitment to the EU's free-market goals, which upset French voters.

Mrs Merkel said the pro-constitution countries should not be ignored. But she did not say whether German ministers would attend the first meeting in Madrid on January 26, playing down any chance of a breakthrough. "I would advise us all not to put each other under pressure ... we will enter this presidency with realistic expectations but wish to bring the EU a little bit forward," she said.

Mrs Merkel said the EU could not continue to enlarge - a key British goal - until it dealt with institutional changes.