The Hindu : E.U. Summit: Ties with U.S. high on agenda

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 20, 2003

International

International

E.U. Summit: Ties with U.S. high on agenda

PORTO CARRAS (Greece) JUNE 19. The 15 European Union leaders will debate their tattered ties with Washington, the contentious draft of an E.U. Constitution and the West Asia situation at a two-day summit at this seaside resort in northern Greece.

The summit opened on Thursday in a swank hotel on an Aegean peninsula near the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki where more than 15,000 police and soldiers have been deployed to prevent violent protests that have marred international gatherings including the Group of Eight summit in Evian, France last month.

The E.U. leaders will be joined by their counterparts from 10 European nations that will join the E.U. in 2004.

They will also meet the leaders of Serbia-Montenegro, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania, which are on a slow track to E.U. membership. Still grappling after the bloody break-up of Yugoslavia, the countries will likely get $249 millions in extra aid over two years beginning 2004an of senior officials from the E.U., the United States, Russia and the United Nations — drafters of the so-called ``road map'' peace plan for West Asia.

The leaders will take a first look at a draft E.U. Constitution that was completed a week ago after 16 months of negotiations. The charter aims to streamline decision-making within the E.U. after the new members join next year. It calls for an E.U. president, a foreign minister, and an effective European Commission, the E.U.'s executive.

France, Germany and Italy generally back the text. Britain, Spain and others seek amendments, as do smaller countries such as Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal that fear losing power to the bigger countries.

The E.U. leaders are expected to set a date to begin final negotiations on the draft charter. Those negotiations, among member Governments, are expected to be completed by the end of the year.

He has warned against a wholesale reopening of the text that has been painstakingly put together over the past 16 months. Doing so could unravel the hard-fought compromise and leave the E.U. in a bureaucratic mess after it expands eastward.

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