A year after French and Dutch voters plunged the bloc into turmoil by rejecting its first-ever constitution, EU leaders notably focused on whether anything could be done to overturn the decision in those two countries.

Many also underlined the need to reach out to ordinary Europeans, and press ahead with much-needed economic reform despite the political stalemate.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel, who holds the EU's rotating presidency until the end of the month, sounded upbeat despite confirming the extension of a "period of reflection" agreed after the double referendum blow.

"We want to move from the period of reflection to the period of results," he said. "Our watchword should be 'goodbye gloom'. A year ago the EU was completely divided. Now things are better and there is basis for optimism."

But his foreign minister, Ursula Plassnik, declined to comment on hopes of resolving the constitutional conundrum in the next couple of years, saying only that something must be done by 2009, when the next EU-wide elections are held.

"There will be no miracles," she said, adding: "2009 will be a key year for the European Union."

The institutional blueprint was designed to prevent decision-making gridlock in a Union which expanded from 15 to 25 members in 2004, with Romania and Bulgaria hoping to join next year and a handful of others waiting on the bench.

Progress?

But few now expect any real progress until after elections next year to choose a successor to French President Jacques Chirac, once the bloc's key player but now widely regarded as a lame duck.

New German Chancellor Angela Merkel has recently raised hopes that she could end the constitutional impasse. Merkel struck an upbeat note as she arrived in Brussels, underlining the need for EU leaders to reconnect with ordinary Europeans.

"I believe we should lay the foundations by making clear to people that Europe is needed," she said, adding that the German EU presidency will notably call for red tape to be cut.

"Then we will tell people again and again, in an open way, that we need this Europe and for that we need the constitution," she added.

Staging new referendums is considered politically impossible, but Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen nevertheless underlined that it was "up to France and Netherlands to make the necessary clarifications."

Future expansion

The institutional impasse has also fueled questions about the European bloc's continuing expansion plans. The constitution included a number of key reforms, notably to voting rights but also creating an EU foreign minister and full-time president, seen as crucial to avoid decision-making gridlock.

"We cannot say 'yes' to enlargement and not to changing the institutions so that we can work in an efficient manner in an enlarged manner in an enlarged Europe," said European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett was more downbeat on the constitution, lamenting that there seems to be even less accord now than before.

"There has been a degree of national debate. But there seems to be less consensus at the moment on what would be the way forward. So extended period of reflection would seem to make sense," she said.