THE European constitution may have been rejected by France and the Netherlands, and been put on ice by Britain, but in Brussels the work of implementing it is forging ahead.

European officials started working on many of the constitution’s innovations as soon as it was written, insisting that they should not wait until it was ratified.

In some cases the work has no legal basis and is dubbed preparatory; in others, a special legal basis has been developed so that policies could be specially implemented even before the constitution is approved.

The new developments include a European diplomatic service, a European president, a European foreign minister, a European space policy, a European defence agency, the implementation of the new European charter of fundamental rights by a European fundamental rights agency, and the scrapping of the national veto on immigration and asylum.

EU officials are already setting up the offices of Europe’s first permanent president, an appointed post established by the constitution to replace the rotating six-month presidency, which is held by Europe’s elected heads of government.

“There is an awful lot of work to set it up: the office and all the support teams,” an official said. “We can’t just leave it to the last moment.”

The EU is forging ahead with a European diplomatic service, officially called an External Action Service, with EU embassies and ambassadors in every country to project EU foreign policy and issue EU visas. The service, which some governments hope will replace national diplomatic services, will answer to the European foreign minister, a post created by the constitution, but to which Javier Solana, the EU’s current head of foreign policy, has already been appointed.

Officials have been told by member governments to start laying the groundwork for the European diplomatic service. One official said the work was continuing: “We are in limbo, but we are carrying on. What else can you do right now?” A British government spokesman said, however: “The external action service does not exist. The only thing happening is preparatory work, and it will not come into being without a treaty.”

The European Defence Agency, established in the constitution to co-ordinate arms production, started operating a year ago, with a British chief executive, Nick Whitney. In order to start before the constitution came into force, EU heads of government agreed a special legal basis for it in 2004 under existing treaties. A spokeswoman said: “We carry on, we already have a legal basis. It doesn’t affect us. If the constitution is ratified, it will just re establish our legal basis.”

The constitution gives the EU its first space policy, and officials met in Luxembourg yesterday to agree how to fully implement it by the end of the year. A Commission spokesman said: “The Commission is involved, but we are not making a new Common Agricultural Policy, it is different.”

Although the constitution abolishes the national veto on immigration and asylum, national governments agreed last December that the issue was so urgent that they should implement it before the constitution was approved.

The constitution gives legal force for the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, but the European Commission has said that it will implement it across all EU legislation.

Opponents of the constitution condemned the pre-emptive implementation. Timothy Kirkhope, the leader of the Conservatives in the European Parliament, said: “There is no subtlety to this process. The constitution’s defenders are not even attempting to disguise their efforts to implement it one way or another. It is both extremely arrogant and contemptuous of democracy.”

The document’s supporters insist that even if it is dead, it could still be justified to bring in the best parts of it. Chris Davies, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the European Parliament, said: “We should not throw out the baby with the bath water. We should judge each decision on its merit.”

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