Member states of the European Union plan to complete the process for the ratification of the EU constitution by 2009 at the latest, Foreign Minister of Luxemburg Jean Asselborn said on Saturday.

Asselborn made the remarks on the first day of a two-day meeting of EU foreign ministers in Austria's Klosternneuburg on the future of the EU constitution and the process of the bloc's enlargement.

Describing the year 2009 as the "deadline," Asselborn told media that EU countries had the same political will to end the process for the ratification of the EU constitution by 2009 at the latest.
 
The foreign ministers of 25 EU countries did not mention 2010 or 2011 as the "deadline" for the EU constitution, he added.

"No one considers that the 'fundamental treaty' is already dead. EU will decide whether to reserve the current contents of Constitution or not," Asselborn added.

At Saturday's meeting, the foreign ministers reportedly agreed to prolong their yearlong "period of reflection" by another 12 months, after the frustration in the Netherlands and France last year.

According to local media, Germany would stick to the "political substance" of the current constitution.

The constitution will provide the EU with measures on policy-making which "we do need," said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier at the meeting.

He added that by the middle of 2007, the EU could decide the further direction of the EU constitution, and Germany would make efforts toward this end during its EU presidency in the first half of 2007.

A draft EU constitution was rejected last year by France and the Netherlands. Under EU rules, all 25 member states must ratify the constitution before it comes into force.

(Xinhua News Agency May 29, 2006)