EUROPEAN COUNCIL: EU LEADERS POSITIVE ABOUT GISCARD'S DRAFT CONSTITUTION.

• Position: Valery Giscard d'Estaing

The President-in-Office of the European Council, Costas Simitis, admitted that the results of the Convention were a "compromise" but added that it was an "excellent piece of work". He was immediately corrected by Valery Giscard d'Estaing who insisted: "It is not a compromise, it's a synthesis".

The draft Constitution was unanimously adopted by all 25 leaders attending the Summit with general acclaim for the achievements of the Convention and its President. But there were already indications of "tough fights" ahead in the IGC which will be launched under the Italian Presidency in the words of Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

Despite the time the Convention has already spent on the question of referring to Christianity in the Treaty, this promises to be a major issue for several Member States. Eight leaders of current and future EU members led by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar insisted on such a reference in the Preamble to the Treaty. This was because "of all the different religious heritages Islam, Judaism and Christianity it is the latter which has had a predominant role in Europe", according to Spain's Foreign Minister, Ana de Palacio. Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso said: "In God's name, let's not exclude Christianity." In a meeting on June 18 the leaders of the European People's Party (EPP) argued for the ICG to take up this issue again. Poland's Social Democrat Prime Minister Leszek Miller also made the point very forcefully under strong pressure from the Catholic church in Poland.

Not surprisingly, it was the draft Treaty section on EU institutions (Title IV) which was the subject of the most reservations by Summit leaders. The two outspoken was Polish Premier Leszek Miller but he received support from, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, Luxembourg Premier Jean-Claude Juncker (which created some surprise because of his country's support for the Convention), Finland's Deputy Prime Minister Antti Kalliomaki, Cypriot Prime Minister Tassos Papadopoulos and Lithuanian President Rolandas Paksas.

Overall the reception from delegates was more positive than expected not least because the first people to speak, the Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and his Dutch counterpart Jan Peter Balkenende were very enthusiastic about the draft. The Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and his Swedish colleague Goran Persson, were also quite positive despite the fact that their representatives at the...