German Ambassador to Poland Reinhard Schweppe on Tuesday urged Warsaw to make its position clear on the stalled European Union (EU) constitution.

Germany, who took up the rotating EU presidency on Jan. 1, took it as one of its main missions during the half-year mandate to push forward the process of drawing up a constitution, Schweppe told a news conference here.

Within the next few weeks or months, Germany wants to learn of Poland's reservations on the charter and the actual difficulties and problems Poland faces once a charter is adopted, the ambassador said.

The EU charter has been ratified by 18 states among the now 27-member bloc, but suffered stunning defeats in Dutch and French referendums in 2005.

Poland, who has been reluctant to voice support for the charter, worries that if the EU integration process develops too fast its goals might cease to remain realistic.

Germany, one of the major powers inside the European Union, has repeatedly said that it wants to see the charter -- in some form or the other -- adopted by 2009, but gave no indication as to how that might be achieved.

Schweppe reiterated that Berlin hopes all EU members can reach an agreement on the charter.

Also on Tuesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel pledged in Berlin to renew negotiations over the constitution, but said it would be an uphill battle to rally 27 nations around a new charter unless they all cooperate.

"Of course, we need the cooperation of all member states," she said, adding that it is necessary to set out a road map about how to proceed.

Germany plans to consult all 27 EU nations to see what bits can be rescued from the already existing charter and draw up a new mutually acceptable one.

Source: Xinhua