Governments accused of trying to grab power over EU Constitution

EU GOVERNMENTS have been accused of trying to grab power from the European Parliament and the Commission in negotiating the European Constitution.

This is the latest in a growing number of sticky issues that threatens to delay final agreement on the document by its December deadline and push it over into the Irish presidency. Foreign Minister Brian Cowan said, following a meeting on the Constitution in Brussels yesterday, that he was still confident the deadline could be met.

However, he admitted that the final stage is now likely to be a long night of political haggling between leaders of the member states, similar to the Nice Treaty. This is just what the Convention that drew up the draft Constitution was designed to avoid.