EU leaders found agreement elusive late on June 21.
The current holder of the EU's rotating Presidency, Germany, is hoping the summit can relaunch a program of limited institutional reforms to improve the bloc's functioning after its recent enlargement. A more ambitious attempt to provide the EU with a constitution was shot down in 2005 when it was rejected by French and Dutch voters.
But after a first round of talks, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel told journalists in Brussels differences among member states remain difficult to bridge.
"There was a broad consensus that every attempt must be made to come to an agreement here," she said. "It is impossible to say tonight where this can be achieved."
Merkel said she will hold a series of bilateral meetings with key EU leaders before the summit reconvenes this afternoon.
The main bone of contention is Poland's insistence on increasing its own power -- and reducing that of Germany's -- in EU majority votes.
Increasing the number of EU decisions reached by majority voting is a key part of the reform package promoted by Berlin.
Germany argues it is a necessary step, now that the EU has 27 members, to avoid bottlenecks.
But among other things, this proposed system -- under which decisions would be adopted if supported by 55 percent of EU countries representing 65 percent of the bloc's population --would give Germany more power at the expense of smaller countries.
History Lessons
Poland currently has half the population of Germany. But Poland says it would be unfair for Berlin to have twice the voting power of Warsaw, under the proposed new system.
Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski explained Warsaw's motives in a radio interview on June 20 saying that without the losses incurred in World War II -- launched by Hitler's Germany -- Poland's population today would be 66 million people, instead of the current 38 million.
This provoked rebukes from various EU leaders as the arrived in Brussels for the summit. Denmark's Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told journalists that "today's decisions on voting rights should be based on World War II is absurd".
Diplomats said no reference was made to the war during the EU leaders' dinner. Instead, France spearheaded a compromise effort, suggesting changes in voting arrangements that would allow the bloc's six largest countries -- including Poland -- to block all majority decisions.
However, there are fears that concessions to Poland could provoke an avalanche of various institutional demands from many other EU member states.
But Poland was not alone in threatening to veto any new treaty. Britain also went into discussions highlighting "red lines" which London says it cannot cross without risking its own referendum backlash.
Outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Britain cannot accept the current German proposals.
"This is going to be a very tough negotiation," Blair said. "We've laid down four areas [foreign policy, the judicial and police system, tax and social security rules, and an EU charter of fundamental rights] where we have to have really significant change. And we'll have to see that change, it will have to be done."
However, EU diplomats say Germany believes it can accommodate most of Britain's concerns.
The Netherlands and the Czech Republic also spoke out strongly for checking the EU's federal powers. Among other things, the Netherlands wants extra safeguards against further enlargement.
Copyright (c) 2006. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org
