Eu Leaders In Final Push For Treaty
European Union leaders, a serious row over the single currency behind them for now, began a final push yesterday to complete a new treaty to modernise the bloc as it enters the new century.
Fifteen months of negotiation on the treaty have resulted in a modest series of proposals ranging from offering citizens a broad swath of rights to changing the voting weights given to EU countries when they take joint decisions.
Officials said most of the new treaty was already agreed but major sticking points remained over such sensitive areas as foreign and defence policy and the balance of power between large and small states.
There (is) broad agreement on many issues but unanimity on none, Italian foreign minister Lamberto Dini said. There are some important questions still unresolved.
The leaders, expected to work throughout the day and into the evening on the second of their two-day mid-year summit, were keen to agree a treaty that would attract their citizens to a bloc often seen distant from day-to-day concerns.
On Monday, the leaders tapered over a potentially disastrous dispute over the single currency by agreeing a resolution on employment to go with the stability pact, the framework for keeping budgets tight under economic and monetary union (EMU).
France and Germany had been sharply at odds over the issue, with the Socialist government in Paris demanding more attention on joblessness and less on fervent budgetary rigour.
The agreement described as an important step forward by Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok was widely hailed as easing tensions at the summit.
But it left many questions about the future of economic policy under EMU unanswered.
On the treaty talks, officials said a dinner discussion on Monday night between leaders and their foreign ministers had not produced much positive movement.
The EU has promised to open negotiations with a host of central and eastern European states eager to join the powerful bloc within six months of the new treaty being signed.
Ahead of the planned expansion, President Jacques Chirac told his colleagues on Monday that flexibility only made sense if decisions are taken by majority.
One of the most contentious issues still to be confronted was demands from a number of countries, including the major continental powers, to merge Europes fledgling defence arm, the Western European Union, into the EU.
Pitted against them are the British and Danes, who want NATO to remain unassailably the cornerstone of the Wests military operations, and neutral states such as Ireland and Sweden.
My view is that at the end of this...we will not see an integration of WEU into EU, Danish Foreign Niels Helveg Peterson said.
Small countries were also expected to launch a vigourous defense of their rights as the leaders discussed ways of streamling institutions and giving more clout to largers countries in decision making.