No sign of breakthrough in EU summit deadlock

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

Summit host Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, was tabling compromises over voting powers in a bid to break the deadlock between Spain and Poland on one side and France and Germany on the other.

The row over who wields how much power in EU policy-making after expansion to 25 member sates meant all other issues were put to one side.

All the focus is on resolving the complex voting puzzle – or face failure this weekend to agree sweeping changes in the way the EU does business.

The problem is that Spain and Poland were given a generous deal three years ago under which Madrid and Warsaw have almost as much voting strength as the French and Germans.

But under the proposed constitution the system would change to link voting strengths directly to size of national population – leaving both Spain and Poland weaker in EU negotiations.

Today there was no sign of any concession from the Spanish and Polish leaders, with French President Jacques Chirac in particular reported to be increasingly frustrated.

Yesterday he effectively accused Polish leader Leszek Miller of abusing his position as a new EU member – one not even joining until next May – by trying to wring unrealistic terms out of the constitution.

Mr Miller may be an EU “new boy”, but he is nonetheless playing an old EU tune – claiming an inability to concede anything at the summit because of his precarious political position back home.

It is up to Mr Berlusconi to square the circle – or call a halt to the talks and hand the task over to the Irish EU presidency which starts in January.

The EU leaders were not due to get together until later today, with Mr Berlusconi continuing to hold “confessionals” with various groupings of countries in a bid to establish the real “bottom line” before committing any detailed compromise plan to paper.