Schroeder, Chirac meet on constitution

BERLIN – A looming deadline for the European Union to agree a constitution will be the focus of talks this weekend between German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the government said Wednesday.

Leaders of the 15 European Union states plus the 10 mainly east European nations due to join the bloc next year are struggling to hammer out the bloc’s first ever full-blown constitution at a 12 to 13 December summit in Brussels.

Italy currently holds the rotating EU presidency and Berlusconi is visiting members in a bid to break deadlock over issues including electoral clout of member states, distribution of power, dividing up seats in the European Commission and future use the national vetoes.

Schroeder and Berlusconi will meet Sunday in Berlin and hold a news briefing after talks, said the government statement.

This will be followed next week with talks between Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac on the upcoming make-or-break EU summit.

Schroeder and Chirac – who have become close political allies since leading European rejection of the Iraq war – will meet in Paris on 9 December.

Sharp differences remain over key issues including electoral clout of member states, distribution of power, dividing up seats in the European Commission and future use the national vetoes.

DPA
Subject: German news