Fight for voting clout hots up

THE number of countries threatening to hijack Europe’s new constitution by fighting for more voting clout grew yesterday when EU leaders met in Brussels.

They are close to agreeing on giving the union a president, a foreign minister and on roles for the individual countries during almost a day-long conference on the draft constitution.

But several leaders warned they were in danger of returning to the debacle of Nice when haggling left the union with a system that handicaps decision-making.