GERMANY: Germany's ruling Social Democrats (SPD) have dropped their opposition to a referendum on the EU constitutional treaty, but it remains unlikely that voters in the union's largest member state will have their say.
Mr Franz Münterfering, the SPD leader, made a surprising U-turn at the weekend, saying he would push for a change to the German constitution to allow referendums at federal level.
Some 81 per cent of Germans favour a referendum on the EU constitution, according to survey last month, but Chancellor Schröder has, until now, favoured ratifying the treaty as usual by parliament.
A spokesman said yesterday that the government was in theory prepared to agree to an EU referendum if the necessary legislation could be agreed in the autumn.
"But there will be no isolated one-off rule for an EU referendum," said the spokesman yesterday, saying the government would push instead for the wider introduction of referendums, which would require changing the constitution.
That, in turn, is only possible with a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament and, thus, opposition support.
The question of an EU referendum has split the opposition conservatives - Christian Democrat (CDU) leader Dr Angela Merkel favours parliamentary ratification of the constitutional treaty while the Bavarian leader of its sister CSU party, Mr Edmund Stoiber, has called for a referendum.
The government's move yesterday left the CDU and CSU reunited, if wrong-footed.
The CDU restated that it had "great doubts" about opening the constitutional door to referendums in general. The CSU agreed but said it still favoured an EU referendum.
Even in the unlikely event of the conservatives changing their minds, time is running out for Germany to join other EU member states in putting the constitutional treaty to the vote.
"Even if we got the majority in parliament to change the constitution, it would still be too late for a referendum on the EU constitution," said a government source to The Irish Times.
CDU sources admitted the same yesterday.
"The government is naturally trying to distract from its difficulties with reforms.
"There is simply no time to organise an EU referendum so this is a pseudo-debate," said a CDU spokesman.
The government tried and failed in its previous term of office to open the constitution to referendums.
The defeat reflected lingering political suspicion of referendums in general as expressed in the 1949 constitution which, after the Nazi era, was deliberately drafted to keep direct democracy to a minimum.