THE WEEK OF LIVING DANGEROUSLY.

Enfeebled by record public indifference in last week's European Parliament elections, the European Union faces a still greater challenge before this weekend. Its leaders have to find agreement on questions that will influence the EU's future even more than voter apathy may.

As the 25 Heads of State or Government converge on Brussels for the first Summit of the enlarged EU, they must be wondering how on earth they let themselves get into this situation.

The promised new Constitution, an unfinished duty that weighs heavier each time EU leaders fail to agree on it, lies again uneasily on the table.

Decisions over the EU's new leadership hang in the air, all the more awkwardly after the political shock that many member state governments received in the EP elections.

The repeated Member State failures to act on the much-vaunted Lisbon Strategy of boosting the EU's economy are staring EU leaders in the face again.

Additional enlargement challenges beckon, as the envisaged endorsement of Croatia's candidacy will open the gates to the other Balkan neighbours too.

And as security across much of the Middle East continues to deteriorate, EU leaders are conscious of the need for further anti-terrorism measures - just as their failings in implementing measures agreed so far have been cruelly exposed.

Even without the dismally low...