The leader of Spain's opposition center-right Popular Party, Mariano Rajoy, called Monday for the country to pull out of its close alliance with Germany and France and align itself instead with Britain and the United States.

Rayoy told party leaders that the Socialist government of Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had adopted an "absurd and damaging" policy of following Paris and Berlin.

But after the rejection of the European Union constitution by voters in France and the Netherlands, and the prospect of a Socialist defeat in Germany in parliamentary elections later this year, Rajoy said the time had come for "Spain to recover its own identity and resume its own role in the construction of Europe."

Rajoy added, "We must restore relations with the most important countries, such as the United States and Britain."

Since arriving in power in 2004, Zapatero has re-established the close relations with France and Germany that had become tense under his center-right predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar.

Aznar supported the US-led invasion of Iraq and committed troops there that Zapatero later withdrew.

Rajoy said as a result of the rejection by French and Dutch voters, "the European constitution is mortally wounded." But he added this did not mean that there was a juridicial vacuum at the heart of the Europe, since the Treaty of Nice was was still in force.

Aznar's government opposed the constitution and supported the Nice treaty, which established a balance of forces that was particularly advantageous for Spain.

Spanish voters, however, supported the constitution by a wide majority in a referendum on February 20.