The European Union convention must do all it can to ensure it presents a draft EU constitution by June as planned, European Parliament president Mr Pat Cox said today.
The convention, headed by former French president Mr Valery Giscard d'Estaing, is currently deliberating how best to manage the bloc when it expands from 15 to 25 members next year.
"Right now we know one thing about Europe. When you set deadlines it is not so bad at delivery, but when you don't set deadlines it can be a disaster," Mr Cox said this afternoon.
"My strong preference would be to encourage Valery Giscard d'Estaing and the members of the convention to deliver a draft constitution at the earliest date and that date in Copenhagen was decided as in time for the end of the Greek presidency. I think we should stick to that," he added.
The 105-member Convention on the Future of Europe has been meeting monthly since February 2002 in an effort to draw up the EU's first constitution.
Last month Mr d'Estaing unveiled the first 16 draft articles, out of some 300 to 400 articles which are expected to form the political architecture of an enlarged EU.
But convention delegates drawn from EU governments and parliaments have proposed 1,038 amendments, with many concentrating on article one, which speaks of the EU administering some powers "on a federal basis".
With differences in opinion among EU member states over how to handle the Iraqi crises adding further political strains to the task, some delegates are arguing for the convention to extend its work beyond June, possibly up to Christmas.
AFP