One of the ideas floated on the future of the Constitutional Treaty is to hold a Europe-wide referendum across the 27 Member States.

This idea is superficially attractive: a single Europe-wide decision, instead of separate national decisions, on Europe's "rule book", could settle the divergence of views that has emerged.

However, the EU has no right, under the current treaties, to organise a Europe-wide referendum. The treaties would first need to be changed - by unanimous agreement and national ratification - to enable it to do so. Even if agreement were reached, it would take years.

So, the advocates of this idea are now calling instead for simultaneous national referenda - in every member state - and because several countries don't allow for referenda in their national constitutions, they argue that such referenda should only be consultative, not binding.

But holding a new set of national referenda now on the constitutional treaty would probably just confirm what we know already: that there is a divergence of views on it with most countries supporting it and a few against it. It would simply bring us, after a few more months, back to the question that Member States will face in June's European Council: how to overcome that divergence and find a compromise acceptable to all?