The Fate of Europe

It looks like Gerhard Schroeder can't accept that the European Union constitution is dead in the water.

German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has urged EU nations to continue ratifying the EU constitution despite "No" votes in France and the Netherlands.

Mr Schroeder spoke in Luxembourg where he met PM Jean-Claude Juncker, who currently holds the EU presidency.

The constitution must be put to all 25 states, he said, adding: "Every form of over-reaction at this stage is wrong."

The "No" votes of two founding members of the European Union could effectively kill the constitution, analysts say.

In other E.U. news, the United Kingdom already wants to opt out of one of the many poorly conceived elements of the E.U. program, a strict work week limitation.

The European Parliament and a number of EU member states want all nations to uphold a working week of no longer than 48 hours.

But the UK and other countries want employees to be able to work additional hours if they volunteer to do so.

The UK says the opt-out is vital for competitiveness and job creation.

"The opt-out remains," said British Trade and Industry Secretary Alan Johnson.

"All of us need to be flexible."

Mr Johnson was backed at the meeting in Luxembourg by his fellow ministers from Germany, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Malta, Cyprus and others.

Those that wish to end the opt-out are led by France, and also include Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Greece, Finland, Lithuania and Hungary.

The issue is not likely to return until next year, especially as the UK takes over the EU presidency for six months from 1 July, and will almost inevitably aim to put the divisive matter firmly at the back of the agenda.

The French in particular have proven that a severe limitation on working hours kills job creation and economic productivity. America, for example, has far fewer laws restricting work weeks, and we consistently cream Europe in productivity and economic growth.

In the meantime, the member nations don't seem too worried about violating E.U. laws.

Recent Dutch warship sales to Indonesia violate the European Union's code of conduct on exporting arms, Raul Romeva, the European Parliament's rapporteur on military exports, said on Thursday.

"These projects clearly violate the code of conduct on arms exports, which prohibits arms supplies to unstable regions, countries in conflict and countries in which respect for human rights is disregarded," he said.

According to a statement from the Greens group in parliament, of which Romeva is a member, the Dutch government has authorised a national shipyard to build two small corvette warships for the Indonesian navy.

It seems to me that the European Union isn't doing that much good for the member nations, and it's got the potential to do a great deal of harm. The nations involved certainly don't seem to care; they don't see themselves as Europeans, but as Brits, Scots, Irishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, and the like. I'm all for a unified Europe, but this is getting ridiculous, and given the lackluster response, even from the nations whose citizens (almost always narrowly) approved the E.U. constitution, it appears that the people don't want it in the first place.