The Lazarus Treaty

It was killed. Stabbed through the heart by a frenzied French public. The body mutilated by a deeply hostile Dutch electorate. Its bloated corpse had begun to putrefy, pushing even the most optimistic to accept the inevitable. But we relied on our normal rational beliefs, not the work of miracles.

The Duff-Voggenhuber report, on which the parliament will vote on Thursday, proposes to intensify the so-called period of reflection on the constitution, agreed by EU leaders after French and Dutch voters rejected the text in referendums last year.

They will be voting on whether to bring Lazarus back from the dead.

The MEPs urge the plenary session of parliament to adopt their call for a "revision process" of the present constitutional text, which "nevertheless respects the constitutional core".

Lazarus will be given a make over in the hope that the public are not fooled. But we should never be taken in by their games. Lazarus is dead, let him rest in peace.