DANGEROUS BREAKDOWN LEAVES EU ON THE HARD SHOULDER.

• Position: European Union, constitution

The European Council ended in political fiasco, the Constitution, which was supposed to testify to the shared ambition of European Union Member States, being consigned to intensive care. This is indeed not the first time that a round of negotiations has proved inconclusive and a new deadline set. It is however the first time that after almost two years of preparations - eighteen months within the Convention and a full quarter with the Inter-Governmental Conference - that the final round of negotiations on a Treaty has come up so short. The gap between the positions of Spain and Poland on the one hand and Germany, Benelux and above all France on the other, was such that a compromise at any cost on the central bone of contention, namely voting rules within the Council of Ministers, would doubtless have resulted in a second-rate agreement depriving the Constitution of the solidity and durability it needs. Widespread insistence on the eve of the Summit that "no agreement was better than a poor agreement" leads one to conclude than many were anticipating failure.

Has the EU sunk for as much into crisis? After all, as the French President noted, "the Union has institutions that will continue to function normally" and it is important not to mistake speed for undue haste. Great concern is nevertheless evident, fuelled by an already poor climate. There is of course not one single explanation. There is also certainly pride, even arrogance in the refusal of the...