Purgatorio Postponed: Another Year of the European Constitution

The meeting in Austria was unlikely to provide the roadmap that the federalists crave. One strategy that is being considered , in line with the "consultative" exercises that Margot Wallstrom has developed, is a rebranding exercise. The European Constitution would be renamed the Basic Law, which is, by coincidence, the translation of the constitution of the Federal Republic of Germany, and restructured to remove the problematic elements.

Supporters of the rebranding said that changing the name was designed to acknowledge the concerns of voters who felt uncomfortable with grand talk of a constitution. Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, said: "We in Germany live with a 'basic law' which does not carry the title 'constitution' but has the same legal quality. It's a possible starting point."

Consideration of the European Constitution was postponed for another year. The future of the EU would be revisited after the Frendch and Dutch elections in 2007. However, the problems that prompted rejection are not fading away and the turn of the electorla cycle does not favour Europhile parties. France, in particular, is volatile and the  possibility of a Le Pen presidency cannot be discounted.