(Adds senior EU diplomat)

By Louis Charbonneau

BERLIN, May 15 (Reuters) - EU envoys staked out positions on an overhaul of the bloc's stalled constitution at a meeting in Berlin on Tuesday, but a key negotiator said no breakthrough was likely before a summit in Brussels next month.

Jan Zahradil, negotiating for the Czech Republic, said the first gathering of his counterparts was a "matter-of-fact" affair, although the treaty is an emotional issue for some.

"It was a clarification of positions, a staking out of territory," Zahradil told Reuters in an interview after the meeting. "There were no breakthroughs."

Like Britain, the Netherlands and Poland, the Czechs are sceptics on the constitution and one of the countries German Chancellor Angela Merkel is working hard to win over in her drive to revive the charter during Germany's EU presidency.

Less than six weeks before Merkel aims to unveil her plans for a new treaty in Brussels, diplomats say a rough consensus is emerging around a pared-down version of the charter French and Dutch voters rejected in 2005.

But a number of issues still divide the bloc.

"The negotiations will move up a floor, to the ministerial and then eventually prime ministerial level," Zahradil said.

Any deals will have to be hammered out by the bloc's leaders at the June 21-22 EU summit in Brussels, which will be newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy's first and British Prime Minister Tony Blair's last, he said.

"I think everything will ultimately be agreed at five minutes to midnight. The decisions will definitely be made during the summit in June," Zahradil said.

Merkel wants the new treaty to be in place by 2009.

DISAGREEMENTS

A senior EU diplomat told Reuters representatives of the 18 states that have ratified the constitution said with varying degrees of fervour that they did not want to start whittling down what their peoples and parliaments had approved.

France did not say much because Sarkozy takes over only on Wednesday but the French negotiators were confident he would work constructively for a quick agreement, he added.

The Czechs and Poles were the only ones to speak out against the proposed double-majority voting system, making it clear they are isolated on that issue, the EU diplomat said.

Despite the disagreements, Zahradil said a major EU Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) aimed at hammering out a text would be held this year during Portugal's presidency.

The German presidency made clear it wanted an ambitious, detailed agreement in June that would effectively set out exactly what is to be agreed at an IGC, the EU diplomat said.

Other issues are climate change and energy security. Zahradil said the main dispute was on whether there should be legally binding demands on the environment and "energy solidarity" in the treaty or simply a declaration of what the bloc would like to see.

Poland, the Baltic states and others want energy security to be mentioned in the treaty because of worries about Russia, the EU's biggest energy supplier, diplomats say.

Another issue is the Charter of Fundamental Rights -- a set of binding human rights provisions.

Britain, supported by the Czechs, Dutch and others, wants no reference to the Charter in the new treaty, a position which some of the 18 countries that ratified the constitution oppose. (Additional reporting by Paul Taylor in Brussels)

AlertNet news is provided by