BRUSSELS: The United States fears the European Union may turn in on itself and be a less effective partner in spreading democracy after French and Dutch voters rejected the EU constitution, a senior US official said.

Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state for European affairs, told a group of journalists the Bush administration’s reaction to the referendum defeats was one of dismay rather than the delight some Europeans may have suspected.

“We were not happy about the double ‘No’,” Fried said at a dinner late on Monday organized by the German Marshall Fund of the United States.

“Our first reaction to the French ‘No’ was not schadenfreude but ‘Oh my God, how are we going to fix the Balkans if the EU puts itself out of the game?’,” he said. Schadenfreude is a German term meaning to rejoice at others’ misfortune.

“We were not happy about the prospect of a weak Europe as a result of the French and Dutch referendums.”

The United States took no official position on the constitution, meant to enable the EU to take decisions more effectively after enlargement to 25 members and give the bloc more stable political leadership.

But Fried said an outwardly-focused EU was essential to a transatlantic partnership to promote democracy and freedom in the Middle East and around the world, which President George W. Bush had made the central focus of his second term.

Just when the United States had come to appreciate the value of the Europeans as partners in that endeavour, “the EU is going to spend the next three years walking round in circles” fretting about its institutional future, he said.

As a result, US policymakers had decided to respond to the referendum defeats by “putting our arms around Europe in the hope it won’t be so bad”, Fried said.

WANING ENTHUSIASM: The constitution contained provisions such as a European foreign minister, an EU foreign service and a long-term president of the European Council of EU leaders designed to give the bloc a higher profile and more consistency in world affairs.