Merkel urges EU on constitution

Germany has unveiled proposals to revive key elements of the EU constitution.

Ahead of the EU's annual spring summit which starts on Thursday, the Germans have pledged to resurrect plans for a full-time president and separate EU foreign minister.

Merkel is expected to raise the issue of Europe’s institutional future during the two-day summit in Brussels.

Germany’s fresh initiative follows a briefing by Wolfgang Ischinger, the country’s ambassador to London.

He said the “first step” to make an enlarged Europe work better would be to replace the six-month presidencies of the EU with a “permanent, professional presidency.”

Ischinger also said the EU should have a full-time foreign minister, adding, "Why can we not have a full-time foreign minister who can travel the world and say this is what the EU believes."

Both ideas were included in the constitution which was put on hold following the French and Dutch rejection of the treaty in 2005.

Merkel was in Brussels on Wednesday for a pre-summit meeting with European commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.

The chancellor who will chair the the spring summit for the first time, as Germany holds the rotating EU presidency, has also called on Europe to take the lead in tackling global warming.

Speaking ahead of the crunch talks -where EU leaders are expected to commit to cutting carbon emissions by 20 per cent by 2020 on 1990 levels, she said the deal would be the first of several potentially painful steps the EU must take.

The need to negotiate a post-Kyoto deal had “concentrated minds,” said Merkel.

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