Your editorial of 14 January said that there will be another attempt to revive the European Constitution during the Austrian Presidency of the European Union.

You rightly point out that the EU suffered a political blow when the French people, and later the Dutch, voted “no” to the Constitution last year.

I do not think that matters have changed much since then, and I think that more time is needed for the Constitution to be discussed again.

The EU cannot risk a second failure within such a short time as this would definitely mean the end of the Constitution, which cost millions of euros to draw up and discuss.

I think that the time is still not ripe to bring up the subject again. The fact that the European leaders haggled over the budget debate last June and December did not give a good picture of what the EU should be, and therefore this could be reflected in the way people vote on the Constitution, should there be a second chance.

The Constitution should be kept dormant for more than a year before it is revised and discussed again. In the meantime, the EU must show that it has learnt the lesson and move closer to the people.

M. Pace

Mosta