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Luxembourg approves EU Charter

Even as much of the European Union considers the EU Constitution to be dead in the water following the French and Dutch rejections of it in recent referendums, Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker declared that the treaty was still very much alive. This opinion came after the results of a referendum Sunday in the small European country showed approval for the EU Constitution.

"The message that has come out and which is addressed to Europe and the world is that the constitution is not dead after the votes in France and the Netherlands," Juncker said on Luxembourg television. The views of Luxembourg`s PM are shared by some in the European Union who see the rejection of the treaty by wide margins in both France and the Netherlands as reflective more of angst and anger at government policies in those countries and are not a judgement against the EU as a whole. This, even as the French complain of rising Anglo-Saxon dominance in the EU in the wake of London`s succesful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Jose Manuel Barroso, current president of the European Commission, welcomed the result with "great satisfaction." But he said the future of the treaty still remained uncertain following the rejections in France and the Netherlands.

"The vote in Luxembourg is a strong signal as it means that a majority of member states consider that the constitutional treaty responds to their expectations by opening the way for a more democratic, more transparent, more efficient and stronger Europe on the world stage," he said.