One year after French and Dutch voters rejected the proposed European Union constitution in referendums, EU leaders have agreed to extend the "period of reflection," setting the second half of 2008 as a deadline for deciding what to do about the bloc's moribund document. The conclusion of the EU leaders' summit in Brussels earlier this month points to the need for Germany and France to play leading roles in resuscitating the treaty, which contains institutional reforms indispensable for enabling an enlarged EU to function efficiently.

Germany will hold the EU presidency in the first half of 2007, tasked with the job of drawing up a report that will serve as "the basis for future work on the constitutional process." France will hold the presidency in the last half of 2008; it will have to prepare the final step in the process of EU member countries reaching a decision. Both countries' tasks will carry substantial and symbolic importance because the EU, in 2007, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of its origin as it enters a new stage. On March 25, 1957, France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Treaties of Rome, which established the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community.

In May 2004, the EU grew from 15 to 25 states, as 10 newcomers joined, mostly former communist countries from Eastern Europe. In January 2007, Romania and Bulgaria are due to join the union, turning it into a 27-nation bloc. Slovenia, meanwhile, has been given the green light to join the euro zone at the beginning of next year, increasing the number of euro countries to 13.