Power-sharing issues break apart European constitutional summit

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The European summit to forge a constitution for a united, post-Cold War Europe collapsed Saturday after leaders failed to agree on sharing power within an expanded European Union.

The deal-breaker was a proposal to abandon a voting system accepted in 2000 that gave Spain and incoming EU member Poland almost as much voting power as Germany, which has a population equal to those two countries combined.

European leaders sought to minimize the damage, saying talks would resume next year, but the debacle leaves the EU in turmoil as it prepares for one of the greatest challenges in its 46-year history -- accepting new members from the former communist east.

The failure scuttles, for the time being, the EU's plan for a new president, foreign minister and a greater profile on the global stage to rival that of the United States.

It also raised doubts about the bloc's future direction and fears over its cohesion. French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder spoke of a core group of countries pressing ahead with closer integration -- a scenario others warned would divide the union.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair made an appeal for all to respect the "essential unity of Europe."

Blair insisted the summit failure would not delay the expansion in which Poland and nine smaller nations will join the bloc on May 1, expanding it from 15 to 25 members.

He said the differences could be overcome and the constitution adopted, but he suggested leaders would take at least several months before a breakthrough.

"My best judgment is it's not an impossible mountain to climb, but I can't be sure," Blair told a news conference. "I don't think there's any point to rushing this before we have the basis of an agreement."

After almost two years of preparations, the constitutional talks were sunk by the voting fight that pitted Germany and France against Spain and Poland.

The fight revealed an unusual level of public animosity among the EU nations. Schroeder complained bitterly that nations "are representing their national interests and have left the European idea behind."

Warning that an expanded EU could force Europe to "march to the slowest step," Chirac suggested a "pioneer group" of nations could move forward alone with closer cooperation on areas such as the economy, justice and defense.

"It will be the motor. It will set the example, allow Europe to go faster, better," Chirac told a news conference.

Others were dubious about such a "two-speed Europe."

"I hope that no country will take measures to try to divide Europe," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said.

The leaders managed some successes on the first day of summit Friday -- boosting the EU's military planning capability independent of NATO and setting up a $75 billion investment plan for public works projects to lift economic recovery.

They also resolved a three-year dispute over the location of 10 new EU agencies, ranging from a European Police Collage in London to a Food Safety Agency in Parma, Italy.

However, it was impossible to put a positive gloss on the meeting as its chair, Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi abandoned the talks before the expected late-night marathon session, usually favored by EU dealmakers.

Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the outcome "a sad day for Europe."

A plan backed by France and Germany would replace the EU's complex, population-based voting system with a formula under which key decisions could be passed by a simple majority of 13 of the 25 members -- if they represent 60 percent of the EU's population.

Spain and Poland said the proposal concentrated too much power in the hands of EU's big four -- Germany, France, Britain and Italy. They want to keep a system that gives them almost as many votes as Germany, the union's biggest member.

"We're talking about compromise or domination" said Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz. Declaring he was fighting for all the smaller nations, Prime Minister Leszek Miller defied doctors' orders to attend the meeting just days after surviving a helicopter crash that broke two vertebrae in his back.

The union still has to settle what issues would be covered by the voting system, though it would likely include the EU budget, environmental regulations and certain parts of foreign policy matters -- a list that could be expanded in the future.

Without agreement, the voting system adopted three years ago at a summit in the French Riviera resort of Nice will take effect when Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Cyprus and Malta join the EU in May.

However, leaders said a constitution will eventually be needed to manage the EU's affairs efficiently when it has so many members.

The 464-article draft charter boils down 80,000 pages of accumulated treaties and agreements into one simplified rule book for the bloc, giving it new powers designed to endow it with political weight to match Europe's economic clout.

Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who takes over the EU presidency from Italy on Jan. 1, said he would sound out members and make a report at the next summit, in March.