IRAQ’S multinational peacekeeping force scrambled to regroup yesterday after Spain’s announcement that it would pull out its 1,300 troops, with Albania pledging more soldiers but US officials bracing themselves for more withdrawals.

Beleaguered Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller announced tonight that he will resign on May 2 – the day after the country joins the European Union.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was urging European governments today to resume talks for a European constitution that collapsed last December in a dispute over voting rights.

European leaders going to tomorrow’s state funeral for victims of the Madrid train bombings will have their first opportunity to meet face-to-face the newly-elected Socialists, and perhaps get a glimmer of Spain’s future foreign policy.

EU leaders appeared increasingly confident today that the EU’s first constitution can be adopted soon despite months of acrimonious debate over how to share out power in the bloc.

Poland urged other nations Monday to keep their troops in Iraq, saying Spain’s declared future withdrawal would create “serious complications” for the US-led coalition.

The President of the European Parliament Pat Cox has been honoured in Poland for his role in EU expansion.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern will soon complete his round of discussions with European leaders as part of the Irish Presidency’s efforts to reach consensus on a new EU Constitution.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern is expected to hold the first of a series of face-to-face meetings with European leaders to discuss last month’s Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) and the failure to agree on the proposed Constitutional Treaty.

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern had a telephone discussion with the Polish and Spanish governments yesterday in a bid to resolve the conflict surrounding the EU Constitution for Europe.

Deadlocked over voting rights, European Union leaders failed today to wrap up more than two years of work on a first-ever constitution.

Talks on a European constitution were struggling on today with no sign of a breakthrough in Brussels.

NEGOTIATIONS on Europe’s first constitution were deadlocked last night as Spain and Poland threatened to veto the document.

Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller escaped unhurt when a helicopter flying him to Warsaw crash-landed today.

Sweden and Poland today reiterated their opposition to any security and defence initiatives taken by the European Union to compete with NATO.

He will spend less than three hours in Pompeii, but Pope John Paul’s visit to a century-old shrine tomorrow is a sign for the Vatican that the frail pontiff’s papacy is still vibrant.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair today congratulated Polish premier Leszek Miller on his country’s vote to join the EU.

Poland’s embattled prime minister categorically denied any involvement in a murky scandal that has gripped the nation as he testified today before a parliamentary panel investigating allegations that a leading film producer attempted to solicit a bribe for lobbying the government.

Prime Minister Leszek Miller said Poland's referendum on whether to join the European Union will probably take place on June 8, and not in May as earlier proposed, according to reports from PAP.

Shareholders in troubled Polish car venture Daewoo-FSO Motor Polska decided today to create a new company, a move that could open the way for British car maker MG Rover to help save the factory from bankruptcy.

Europe Correspondent

Frustrated Polish voters handed power to a reformed party of ex-communists in parliamentary elections and sent the once-mighty Solidarity bloc into political oblivion, exit polls showed.