Unionism is in danger of imploding, a senior member of Mr David Trimble's Ulster Unionist Party warned tonight.
With the review of the Belfast Agreement due to begin next Tuesday, MEP Mr Jim Nicholson admitted the UUP was no longer in the driving seat.
He said: "There is no point in pretending otherwise. We must use the time to reflect and put right that which was wrong in our policy."
Mr Trimble's leadership has been under pressure since November's elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly when the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party emerged as the single largest party at Stormont.
Even though the Northern Secretary Paul Murphy has been urged to make sure the Agreement's review is swift, negotiations are expected to last until Easter.
Mr Paisley's party has insisted there will no face-to-face meetings with Sinn Féin, and absolutely no hope of the two sides entering into a power-sharing arrangement in any new executive in Belfast.
Mr Nicholson, a vice-president of the party whose European seat is now under major threat in next June's elections, said Unionism had to define where it stood and stop giving conflict messages to the Unionist people.
He told a meeting in Mid-Ulster he could see no future accommodation with the Alliance Party, no chance of any degree of Unionist unity and the responsibility which was once theirs, now rested on the shoulders of the DUP.
Mr Nicholson added: "Unionism has been a major loser in the battle for the hearts and minds of Unionist people.
"I do hope, before we totally implode as a people, as a culture and as an identity, that wiser council will prevail. The principle of the Union is by far the most important and goes way beyond any view held by any individual politician or leader of any party."
PA