European Parliament President Josep Borrell Fontelles said Friday that the European Union (EU) is bound to step out of the crisis caused by French and Dutch rejection of the European constitution, but it will take some time.

In a speech titled "Europe at crossroads" at a seminar held in the northern Spanish city of Laredo, Borrell, a Spaniard, said that the EU countries have not given up their cause of building a Europe capable of exerting greater influence in the world, which is the bloc's irreversible direction.

The EU has encountered many difficulties on the path toward economic and political integration, but the current difficulty is different from the old ones, as the bloc has been enlarged and now has 25 members, Borrell said. The new members vary greatly in their domestic conditions, he noted.

What is of utmost importance for the EU is to stick to the general direction of building a strong EU, stressed Borrell.

Source: Xinhua