EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A small group of politicians from around the EU have published a repackaged treaty for the bloc, hoping to feed into the emerging consensus among member states that a "simplified treaty" has to be extracted from the ashes of the rejected EU constitution.

Unofficially known as the "Amato Group" - it is headed by former Italian prime minister Giuliano Amato - the outfit's contribution comes at a crucial time in negotiations on creating a new-look treaty after the original EU constitution was rejected mid 2005.

The 16-strong group, containing several former prime ministers as well as two current European Commissioners, has stripped the rejected constitution of its constitutional elements - including the article on the EU's symbols and the controversial "God-less" preamble - reduced the charter of fundamental rights to one legally binding article and say they do not mind if the proposed EU foreign minister ends up with another name.

Essentially, however, the main elements of the original constitution have been kept in. "We do not exclude that you reach the same final result," said Mr Amato at the unveiling of the document on Monday (4 June).

70 articles
The treaty has been reduced to 70 articles (12,800 words) plus two protocols, one containing institutional changes and one containing policy innovations - by contrast the original EU constitution contained 448 articles and around 63,000 words.