Luxembourg backs EU Constitution

Luxembourg approved the European Union's troubled Constitution by a solid majority in a referendum yesterday, averting a threat by Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker to resign.

Voters in the duchy of 465,000 people that houses several key EU institutions backed the charter by 56.52 per cent to 43.48 per cent, official results showed.

But the result is unlikely to revive the charter, designed to make EU decision-making more efficient after the bloc's expansion last year, after it was rejected in French and Dutch referendums.

But it will allow veteran EU leader Mr Juncker to keep his jobs of Prime Minister, Finance Minister and chairman of the group of 12 nations sharing the euro currency, while strengthening his already considerable clout in the 25-nation EU.

The vote may encourage EU leaders to find a quicker way out of the current political doldrums that resulted from the charter's defeat in France and the Netherlands and the June EU summit's failure to agree on the bloc's 2007-2013 budget.

"It is an encouragement and invitation to all Europeans to seek joint ways of quickly overcoming the current crisis," said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

Mr Juncker, 50, had decided to go on with the referendum and kept his promise to quit if the Constitution was rejected, although the EU summit agreed on a long period of reflection on the Constitution after the failed referendums.

The summit's decision has prompted the majority of EU members yet to ratify the treaty to postpone or suspend the process. The charter has now been ratified by 13 countries.

Mr Juncker said last week a yes in Luxembourg would offer a glimmer of hope for the Constitution despite the rejections in France and the Netherlands, but most politicians and analysts believe the charter is dead.

"The future of the Constitution is unsure following the no in France and the Netherlands," executive European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said in a statement.

The decision by EU leaders to start an in-depth debate on the future of the EU should proceed quickly, he added.

The charter cannot go ahead unless it is ratified by all 25 member states, either in a referendum or parliamentary vote.

Mr Juncker, who has served 11 years as Prime Minister, has said a closer integration is needed to prevent the EU from sliding into national rivalries that once resulted in World War II.

An architect of the euro currency evoked, during the campaign, the wounds his father suffered during the war when he was forcibly recruited into the German army.

Similar arguments fell on deaf ears in France and the Netherlands, where voters appeared to be more preoccupied with stagnant economies, threats of globalisation and fears of EU further expansion into countries such as Turkey and Ukraine.