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From the Open Europe Press summary

Chirac and Merkel at odds over strategy for bringing back EU Constitution

In a speech to French Ambassadors yesterday Jacques Chirac called for parts of the EU Constitution to be cherry-picked and implemented separately. He suggested this could be done on areas such as “internal security and justice, external action and better involvement of national parliaments in the European decision-making process.” However, Angela Merkel has reiterated her opposition to this telling Der Spiegel, “To put single parts of this Constitution into force, and leave others aside, without knowing where you want to go, that does not work”. In an interview with La Croix German Home Affairs Minister (CDU) Peter Altmaier said “I am still convinced that the European Constitution is good. And this position on the contents of the treaty is shared by a large majority of states. Therefore heads of state must do everything possible to preserve this text.”

Chirac also ignored warnings from Jose Barroso and Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel not to back the idea of a “core Europe”. Chirac said that he wanted to bolster “the visibility and the weight of the euro zone… It is natural for euro-area member countries to deepen their political, economic, fiscal and social integration… States wishing to act together should be enabled to do so as a complement to common policies” across the whole EU. AP reports that EU Communications Commissioner Margot Wallstrom has said “the period of reflection on the EU Constitution should be extended beyond June 2006, since we have seen little debate up to now. Some have done a lot and others very little.” Dutch MP Lousewies van der Laan, who led the Dutch yes campaign, is quoted saying, “I want to be very clear on this subject. We will not ratify the text, and I sincerely ask Mrs Wallstrom - what part of no do you not understand?”

http://euobserver.com/?aid=20656&rk=1

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/10/news/eu.php