Austria:Austria pledged to kick-start the debate on the future of the EU constitution yesterday as it laid out its plan for its six-month presidency of the union.
Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik said she would visit Paris and the Hague next week to listen to views on the constitution, which lays out a new institutional framework for the EU.
She said she would also invite the EU's general affairs council to debate options for the constitutional treaty, which was rejected by voters last year in referendums in France and the Netherlands.
Austria also plans to host a conference later this month entitled "The Sound of Europe" that will open the debate on the future of Europe to artists and intellectuals.
"The EU constitutional process is now covered by a blanket of snow and is waiting for the spring," said Ms Plassnik, who admitted that the EU had suffered a massive blow to its ego in 2005 with the rejection of the constitution.
She said the presidency would have to wait and see whether member states could decide on a way forward before agreeing to put forward any particular options at the European Council in June. The options include: cherry-picking elements of the treaty; completely redrafting the treaty or simply putting it to voters again.
However, the Austrian vice-chancellor, Hubert Gorbach, said it was his opinion that the constitution needed to be completely redrafted to return competency for national issues back to national governments.
He criticised over-regulation by the EU in national affairs, although he added there were some good ideas in the treaty.
"We are not talking about cleaning up the existing text, but a need to start from scratch," said Mr Gorbach, who is a member of the right-wing BZÖ party, which shares power in the Austrian government with the centre-right Austrian People's Party.
Mr Gorbach said it would be illusory to go back and simply re-edit the text after it was rejected by voters in two member states.
A recent Eurobarometer opinion poll found only 32 per cent of Austrians said the EU was a good thing for their country.