Czech dep PM wants new, simple EU treaty

...Czech Deputy Prime Minister Alexandr Vondra said on Tuesday.

The Czechs are among nine countries that have not ratified the treaty, and the senior government party, the right-wing Civic Democrats, have been strongly opposing the text.

Germany, which holds the rotating EU presidency in the first half of this year, is trying to revive discussion on the charter, and Chancellor Angela Merkel will travel to Prague to discuss it on Friday.

Vondra, who is in charge of European affairs in the new cabinet which won a vote of confidence last week, said he was against continuing the ratification process of the current treaty, and also did not back suggestions to clip some of its passages to make it more acceptable.

"The third option is to try for something new, simpler, brief, closer to the people," Vondra told reporters. "This third way seems to me to be the best."

He added that a new text could be drafted by an inter-governmental conference.

The Czech view echoes that of Britain, whose government has also called for an entirely new text, which would be simple and possible to ratify without a referendum.

Non-executive Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a long-time opponent of closer European integration, has also argued for an entirely different charter that would stop what he calls "stealth" unification.

The treaty was to have streamlined institutions to help the bloc cope with enlargement to the current 27 members from 15 just three years ago. It would have scrapped national vetoes in some areas.

Portugal said on Tuesday it would hold off calling a referendum on the constitution until there is a consensus in Europe. Portugal holds the EU presidency in the second half of 2007, and its voice in the debate is likely to grow in the coming months.

Vondra also said Jan Zahradil, a Civic Democrat member of the European Parliament known for his strong opposition to the constitution, and former defence minister Jiri Sedivy had been appointed as the two liaison officers for talks on the constitution during the German presidency.

[PRAGUE/Reuters/Finance.cz]