EUROPEAN COUNCIL: EU LEADERS SIGN OFF DRAFT TREATY, AGREE SECURITYPLAN.

EU leaders were formally presented with the draft Constitutional Treaty drawn up by the European Convention at the Thessaloniki summit on June 19-20. They said it was a "good basis" for the work of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which is due to start on October 15 although several of them warned that they would try to renegotiate certain parts in the forthcoming IGC. Heads of state and government also gave initial approval to a document on global security drawn up by foreign policy chief Javier Solana although it will be worked on further before being formally approved by the end of the year. Leaders failed to make substantial progress on a range of issues concerning asylum and immigration (see separate articles on these issues in European Report 2786, Sections I, IV and V).

The summit also agreed...