EU: EU leaders will meet at a summit in Brussels today to debate the future of the EU constitution and the merits of future enlargement. They are also expected to tackle issues such as how Europe should deal with migration, natural disasters, and looming external relations challenges in Iran and the Middle East.
But the European Council meeting in Brussels is not expected to provide any eureka moments, particularly in relation to the future of the draft EU constitution - the treaty negotiated under the Irish presidency of the EU in 2004 that proposes to redefine the powers of the EU, change the way it works and set out the rights and principles of EU citizens.
Member states remain deeply divided on whether the EU constitution should enter into force following the public votes against the treaty in France and the Netherlands last summer.
For example, Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende refuses to consider putting the existing text of the constitution to voters again in a new referendum, while French presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy has suggested cherry picking the best bits of the constitution for a new slimmed down treaty.
But many of the 15 states that have already ratified the constitution are adamant it should be saved and warn against amending it for fear it will unravel completely.
In a speech to the European Parliament this month, Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt warned that waiting for a better time to discuss how to move the constitution forward was the wrong option.
He wants EU member states to continue ratifying the treaty in an effort to reach the four-fifths threshold, which under a mechanism in the draft treaty, would send the issue to the European Council for discussions if under five states cannot get the treaty ratified. But there is little appetite in the EU for risky referendums and the Irish Government, for one, has said it will not put the constitution to a vote until a way forward is agreed.
EU leaders will discuss the issue over dinner this evening and are expected to call for a further period of reflection on the constitution. Diplomats will pore over the minutes of the meeting and conclusions are likely to be issued early on Friday, with the constitution's supporters hoping for the inclusion of a target date of 2009 for an institutional settlement. It is likely that leaders will signal that further progress can be made during the German presidency, which runs for the first six months of 2007.
The debate on enlargement policy will pit those states that have concerns about the expansion of the union, such as the Netherlands, France and Germany, against those that feel that including more members is good for Europe - these include the new member states in central Europe and Britain, which supports Turkey's EU entry.
Foreign ministers will agree that the EU's "absorption capacity" should be taken into account when considering future enlargement, but some doubters on the merits of enlargement will also seek to link the pace of future enlargement with the EU's ability to function politically, financially and institutionally. States such as Slovakia will be pushing to give some positive signals to countries on its borders, such as Ukraine, that a European perspective will be possible in the future.
Meanwhile, EU leaders will also seek to give some hope to Serbia that EU entry is possible in the future if it can get its house in order. Austria has placed the issue on the agenda of the summit, with one EU diplomat describing it as an attempt to "cheer up Serbia". There are concerns that the decision to freeze talks with Belgrade due to its failure to co-operate with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague could isolate the state further and encourage extremists.
In a pre-summit speech European Commission president José Manuel Barroso summed up the rather downbeat mood in Europe by referring to the "the spectre of Europessimism".
"Not only do we have traditional Euroscepticism - the voice of those who never wanted Europe in the first place. Now we've got pessimism on the part of those who are supporters of Europe," he said.
In an attempt to revitalise Europe, leaders will also debate a range of measures intended to get Europe moving again. These include: giving more power to the commission to act in the area of justice and home affairs; making the workings of the EU institutions more transparent; promoting jobs, growth and the single market; and building a common EU energy policy.