Austria will on Monday launch its presidency of the European Union with a vow to help bring the EU’s moribund constitution out of the deep freeze, and rebuild public confidence in the Union.

Ursula Plassnik, Austria’s foreign minister, called for a period of “confidence building”, which would improve the prospects of salvaging all or part of the constitutional treaty. “The constitution is covered in snow and it’s waiting for spring,” she said. “We need a climate change, to a certain extent.”