The InterGovernmental Conference ended without agreement during the day on Saturday 13 December 2003. The voting weights for Spain and Poland were the issue that brought the IGC to a standstill.
What does this mean for the draft Constitutional Text? Several commentators have noted that there is likely to be a period of reflection and stock-taking rather than a rush to re-start negotiations. It is expected that the Irish government will produce a status report in Spring 2004 but any re-opening of the talks will have to wait until the Dutch Presidency in the second half of 2004. No new treaty will emerge until 2005 at the earliest.
EU enlargement will still proceed in May 2004 because the relevant institutional arrangements were agreed at the Nice summit in December 2000. The big question will be what will happen to the draft constitutional text that was created over the last 18 months? It is worth noting that consensus had been reached on the vast majority of the text and so this would presumably be the basis for the next round of negotiations.
For health campaigners, this is an opportunity to keep up the pressure and highlight the importance of an effective integration of public health into the new EU Treaty.
