Dialogue of the deaf

There is a useful summary of the state of play on the Euractiv site, complete with a link to the Luxembourg presidency communiqué (in French only).

Euractiv headlines its piece: "EU wants renewed dialogue, but no changes", reporting that: "EU leaders have agreed to postpone the November 2006 deadline for ratification of the EU Constitution. Juncker now wants a Plan D for Dialogue and Debate but has ruled out a renegotiation."

This is summed up in the communiqué, where Juncker states: "We consider that the constitutional treaty gives the right answers to the many questions that Europeans citizens pose. We therefore consider that the process of ratification must continue. There will be no better treaty, and thus there is no prospect of renegotiation."

One really does wonder whether they are listening to themselves, or are even capable of so doing. On the one hand, Juncker says he wants "dialogue" and then, in the same breath, says there will be "no changes". What is the point of having a dialogue if, at the very start of the process, you have already said that there will be no changes as a result of it?

This is quite simply, a dialogue of the deaf.