Nicolas Sarkozy, a frontrunner to become the next president of France, on Friday spelt out a plan to revive the European constitution, and end two years of political stalemate in the European Union.

In a landmark speech mapping out his vision for Europe, Mr Sarkozy called on European leaders to agree a “mini-treaty” that would salvage the urgently required institutional reforms laid out in the original draft constitution. Such a mini-treaty, the French interior minister stressed, would require only parliamentary ratification, but no referendum.