EU leaders fail to disguise differences on constitution by Denis Barnett
ROME, Oct 4 (AFP)
Europe's leaders failed to disguise sharp differences as they launched months of debate on an historic constitution at a summit here Saturday clouded by ugly clashes between police and demonstrators.
The leaders of the 25 current and future EU members agreed in a joint declaration that a new constitution would be a "vital step" towards closer European ties.
However, they were unable to mask divisions over how to reach agreement on a first ever constitution for the 46-year-old bloc at the outset of what is shaping up to be months of divisive talks.
Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini praised what he called the "constructive spirit" at the talks but admitted the leaders "didn't break new ground this morning. Positions were restated. Those positions are well known."
In particular, Spain and Poland refused to budge over their insistence on retaining beneficial voting rights granted under the 2000 Nice Treaty, giving them a disproportionate influence compared to larger countries.
The Italian minister indicated that Madrid and Warsaw were playing with fire. "It's a big political choice," he cautioned.
Frattini acknowledged that both countries could block proposed changes in voting weights because all decisions have to be agreed unanimously.
"If they say no, then the idea won't get approved... then by default Nice would apply." But he said he hoped a "third way" might emerge during the intergovernmental conference (IGC), which Rome hopes will end in December.
Riot police fired tear gas and wielded batons as they fought a running battle with several hundred demonstrators along a broad avenue within 300 metres (yards) of the summit venue.
Some of the demonstrators wearing hoods and masks and armed with sticks, forced a line of police to crouch under a hail of stones and missiles.
Several people were injured in the clashes which broke out in the afternoon, but subsided before dark.
Organisers of an anti-globalisation demonstration said 70,000 people took part in a protest against European enlargement, but police said the true figure was a fraction of that. Meanwhile, trades unions said a separate march in the city centre drew more than 200,000 people.
The current Italian EU presidency wants to complete negotiations by the end of the year, to pave the way for the new treaty to be signed before European parliament elections next June.
"If we don't get political agreement by the end of the year then the IGC will continue under the Irish presidency," he added.
The joint declaration reaffirmed the EU leaders' "expectation of a conclusion of the constitutional negotiations in advance of the (European elections) in order to allow European citizens to cast their vote in full awareness of the future architecture of the Union."
Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel took Poland to task for its stubborn stance.
"We know well the agriculture problems that Poland has to contend with, we're going to help them a lot but they must understand that they can't have their cake and eat it too."
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel, one of the principal opponents of the constitution in its present form, was upbeat about the chances of an agreement.
"We don't yet have a compromise on the table but I had the impression that there was a common spirit during the meeting," Schuessel told reporters.
"The walls are there. Now, we have to build the house in such a way that the hundreds of millions of Europeans will feel at ease there."
The first draft of the constitution was thrashed out at a 16-month long Convention in Brussels under the chairmanship of former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
Although all countries have individual positions on each issue, a number of camps have developed in the constitutional debate.
The EU's six founders -- Germany, France, Italy and the three Benelux states: Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg -- want as little tinkering as possible with the Giscard draft.
A group of 15 smaller countries opposes plans which could bolster the traditional heavyweight's dominance, while Britain is vowing to veto anything which would remove its control over key policy areas such as tax and foreign affairs.
