EU Treaty Woes

"Just when we should be at our most alert, just when the world's demand for Europe is at its highest, the Union has turned inwards, immersed in a sterile institutional crisis," Solana said in his acceptance speech Thursday after being awarded Germany's Charlemagne Prize. "We cannot go on like this. This must be resolved as soon as possible, if possible in 2007," he told an audience packed with past and present European dignitaries.

The medal, which comes with a purse of 5,000 euros ($6,750), was awarded to the 64-year-old Spaniard in recognition of his work in encouraging peace and European unity. Solana has mediated in conflicts from the Balkans to the Middle East,

In a rapidly moving world, Europe had to maintain its ability to act. New economic movements and technical innovations had led to major changes, said Solana, a former NATO secretary-general.

"Unfortunately, I have come to the conclusion that our union has reacted with crippling narrow-mindedness to these changes, these challenges with their unforeseeable consequences."

"Untiring and successful efforts"

Arguing that a new framework was needed to enable the EU to continue making progress, Solana threw his support behind Chancellor Angela Merkel's push to negotiate a deal on the European constitution before Germany's EU presidency expires at the end of next month.

The constitution, rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, envisages a reform of UN institutions and the creation of a new EU president and foreign minister.

Merkel, along with King Juan Carlos of Spain and his wife, Queen Sofia, were in the audience at the ceremony held in the city of Aachen, on the Dutch and Belgian border.

In a message of congratulations, the German chancellor praised Solana for his "untiring and successful efforts" to bring more cohesion to the European Union's foreign policy.

Solana is the second person in his family to receive the award. It was awarded in 1973 to his great-uncle, the Spanish philosopher and sociologist Don Salvador de Madariaga.

The Charlemagne Prize was created in 1949 to honor service to European unity. It is named after the eighth-century emperor Charlemagne who ruled over an empire covering much of western Europe.

Jean-Claude Juncker, prime minister of Luxembourg, received the 2006 award. Previous winners have been former Czech president Vaclav Havel, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and former US president Bill Clinton.