BERLIN, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac on Monday pledged further efforts to secure a new European Union constitution while insisting on their demands for a new voting system.

    After holding talks with Chirac in a village outside Berlin, Schroeder said he would later in the day explain the French-Germanposition to Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency.

    "The constitutional process must be successful," Schroeder tolda joint news conference. "But not at any price."

    EU suffers from a deadlock over the constitutional issue. Spainand Poland oppose the vote allocation rules adopted in 2000 that gave them 27 votes each but 29 each to France and Germany, demanding a change to take into account their greater populations.

    Chirac said he and Schroeder also discussed about the situationin Iraq. Germany and France both opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq, which toppled former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

    The meeting, held in Genshagen, about 15 km south of Berlin, was a regular German-French get-together, and came ahead of a three-way summit scheduled for Feb. 18 in Berlin, which will also be attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The summit is meant to help prepare for the next EU summit to be held in Brussels late March.

    The two countries' foreign ministers, Joschka Fischer of Germany and Dominique de Villepin of France, also attended Monday's talks. Enditem