Proposed New German Pact for Eu Puts Uk on Collision Course

Germany insisted on a "single legal personality" for the EU yesterday and called for a legally binding charter of fundamental rights across Europe. Both demands are anathema to the British government.

Next week Germany will chair a showdown summit in Brussels on how best to streamline the running of the EU. The summit, which will mark Tony Blair's European swansong, is aimed at salvaging elements of the European constitution that collapsed two years ago. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, yesterday circulated her proposals for a new European pact while admitting that several crucial areas still had to be fought over.

She said the summit should agree on a detailed mandate for the prompt convening of a conference of EU governments to finalize Europe's renamed constitution by the end of the year.

The six-page letter to the other 26 EU governments, obtained by the Guardian, said a consensus had emerged to ditch the constitution in favor of a "reform treaty", but that the new deal had to "preserve the substance of the innovations" outlined in the 2005 constitution which was voted down by the people of France and the Netherlands.

The German leader said that however the new pact was described, the EU should be defined as having a "single legal personality", an issue persistently opposed by Britain which views such status as part of a "slippery slope" towards greater powers for Brussels.

Mrs Merkel concluded from several months of secret diplomacy on how to revive the constitution that the EU was divided on the charter of fundamental rights included in the defunct original. Britain is a leading opponent of the social and labor rights in the charter.

The charter need not be included in the new treaty, the German leader said, "provided that the legally binding character of the charter is preserved".

She told parliament in Berlin that there was no solution in sight to the row over the revived constitution. "If this doesn't succeed, it will still not be the downfall of Europe, but it will have extremely serious consequences," she warned.