Another year of hard work.

IT could be another year before the fate of a new constitution for Europe is decided.

The publication of the draft text of the constitutional treaty marked the final phase of the work of the 105-strong Convention which has been thrashing out the issue for the last 15months.

Now,after a final round of Convention talks in the next few days, the baton passes to EU leaders, who will convene an ``inter-governmental conference'' to start meeting in the autumn.

Those talks will last into next spring,involving more revisions of the proposed text.

The a . m will be to reach full agreement on the terms of the new Treaty, replacing the existing EU rule book and streamlining procedures to avoid bureaucratic grid lock in a union of 25 member states.

The final version will only become law if and when EU leaders agree unanimously on the contents - not just the present 15EU leaders,but the heads of the 10 countries which join on May 1 next year.

The timetable: n May 30 Convention's 105 members (MPs,MEPs, government ministers, Commission delegates) continue talks on the final text.

June 4-6 More Convention talks. n June 11-13 Last meeting of the Convention,ending more than 15 months of work.

n June 20 Convention chairman Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the former French president,delivers the final draft constitutional treaty to EU leaders at their summit in Greece. The EU leaders formally decide the date for convening an ``intergovernmental conference'' (IGC) to consider their response to the Convention's offering. They will also decide who will represent them in the IGC. In Britain's case,Welsh Secretary Peter Hain has been Tony Blair's delegate in the Convention,but is unlikely to carry on because of his other duties.

October The IGC will begin its work,meeting regularly in Brussels to go through the proposed Treaty line by line, trying to reach agreement on its contents.

May 1, 2004 Ten new member states join the EU and their first task will be to join the existing 15 in voting on whatever final version of the proposed constitutional treaty the IGC has produced. The document will require unanimous approval before it can become the ``Bible'' of the enlarged European Union.