NY Times: European Union Cannot Reach Deal on Constitution

European Union Cannot Reach Deal on Constitution

BRUSSELS, Dec. 13 — The leaders of 25 current and imminent members of the European Union failed to reach agreement on Saturday on a draft constitution, stumbling on a problem familiar to Americans: how to apportion power among large and small states.

At issue was a proposal to discard a voting system agreed upon three years ago that gave Spain, a member of the union, and Poland, which joins next year, almost as much voting weight each as Germany, which has more than twice the population of either.

Klaus Hänsch, a German deputy of the European Parliament, laid the blame for the failed meeting squarely on the two nations' unwillingness to compromise. "I hope that Spain and Poland realize that the failure of the summit is due to them, and that they missed a historic opportunity," he said.

But Italy's prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, chairman of the talks, defended the Poles. Entering the talks Saturday morning, he told reporters that on Friday he had circulated four different voting formulas among the leaders.

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European Union Cannot Reach Deal on Constitution

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and change deaN to deaL.

I know we all have Dean on the mind... :-)

sorry about that :-)

Was that Howard Dean or Dean Martin?

The EU won't do anything until they get him on the phone to give his advice!