Finland and Portugal seek only minor changes to EU constitution

The prime ministers of Finland and Portugal on Monday called for EU leaders to reach agreement on a European constitution text that closely resembles the existing document.

"Whatever the solution will be, it must be inspired (by the) present text. It is not possible to put the text that we agreed (upon), and which is the result of a compromise, completely aside," Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates told reporters following talks with his Finnish counterpart Matti Vanhanen in Helsinki.

The EU was plunged into crisis last year after French and Dutch voters rejected a proposed constitution designed to provide a legal framework for the bloc which enlarged in 2004 from 15 to 25 members.

The treaty was "a result from many, many compromises and I'm quite sure that whenever we find the final conclusion it will be strongly based on the text we now have," Vanhanen said.

"If we have changes I can say they will be quite marginal," he added.

Neither Finland nor Portugal have ratified the document.

The Finnish parliament is expected to debate in the coming weeks a government report which implicitly called for ratification of the constitution. The parliament would then ratify it sometime later this year, possibly ev
Highlights of new EU constitution

Constitution for Europe

en before Finland takes over the presidency of the European Union on July 1.

Portugal is meanwhile expected to hold a referendum once the text has been revised.

The constitution has already been ratified by 13 of 25 EU member states. It must be ratified by all member states in order to enter into force.