COPENHAGEN - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Tuesday rejected any renegotiation of the new European Union constitution after France voted "no" to the document in a weekend referendum.
"It would be senseless to ask the Danish people to vote on a treaty which we then decide to change and start the whole process all over again. I will not accept that," Rasmussen told reporters.
France and the Netherlands -- if the latter rejects the treaty in a referendum on Wednesday -- "need to find solutions themselves, just like Denmark did after rejecting the Maastricht treaty in 1992", he said.
Danes are to vote on the constitution in a referendum on September 27.
"We want a clear decision from the 25 (EU member states) on the European constitution ratification process at the EU summit" to be held June 16 and 17, Rasmussen said.
"If we decide to pursue this process, it will have to be on the basis of the treaty that we have, no more no less," he said.
But France, and possibly the Netherlands, should not be asked for concrete proposals on how to solve the problems created by rejection of the treaty.
"They will need time," he said.
But the ratification process must continue, "and all small and large states must be treated equally", he demanded.
The EU treaty is designed to streamline and harmonise the way the bloc is run after it expanded last year from 15 to 25 members.
05/31/2005 12:21 GMT