EU deal paves expansion path

NICE, France -- European Union leaders have reached agreement after marathon talks on internal reform.

The landmark summit -- the longest in the EU's history -- agreed a reform package which will pave the way for new members to start joining the existing 15 members by 2003.

French President Jacques Chirac said: "This summit of Nice will remain in European history as a summit that shaped the Union. It was important to keep our commitments to the candidate countries in central and eastern Europe."

The deal alters the voting rights of member nations within EU institutions and lays the foundations for expanding the EU.

Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus opened membership talks in March 1998 and are keen to join in 2003.

REFERENCE   •  Analysis: Wider lessons   •  What was decided   •  Jargon glossary   •  New vote weights   •  EU enlargement map   •  History of EU growth   •  What kind of Europe?   •  France's EU presidency   •  In-depth: Changing face of Europe    VIDEO Agreements and disagreements at the EU summit Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   Nice deal: Key comments "This summit of Nice will go down in European history as a summit that shaped the Union.” - President Jacques Chirac “I cannot hide from you a certain regret that we did not manage to go further." - European Commission President Romano Prodi "I've rarely had such an impression that Europe remains a fragile enterprise and the continent still holds unsuspected complexities." - Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker "It is the best possible outcome." - Portuguese Prime minister Antonio Guterres "Not all of the problems have been solved, but a good trail had been laid down and from here we go on." - Danish Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen

Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Bulgaria and Romania have also since joined the candidates' queue and Turkey also has EU membership ambitions.

Talks were temporarily suspended during Sunday over voting reform proposals and uncertainty persisted until the agreement was signed at 4:30 a.m. (03:30 GMT) on Monday.

But the final deal did not please all EU power-brokers.

European Commission President Romano Prodi said: "I can only note a certain displeasure that majority voting was not extended to certain key sectors in our political life.

"We faced insurmountable vetoes to the extent that it was not even possible to have a discussion despite the goodwill of many."

The treaty is intended to streamline the voting system inside the European Union's Council of Ministers.

Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair said his country had "got the best" out of the agreement in relation to the EU.

Blair's objections to giving up Britain's veto on tax and social security matters were overlooked in the general talks. But Belgium only signed at the last minute after France, which currently holds the EU presidency, offered a compromise proposal.

The revised proposal gives Germany, France, Italy and Britain 29 votes in the council; Spain, 27 votes; the Netherlands, 13, Greece, Belgium and Portugal 12 votes, Sweden and Austria 10 votes, Finland, Denmark and Ireland seven votes, and Luxembourg four.

The French had tried to make concessions to smaller countries, which felt they were being squeezed in the battle over how to weight national votes and slim down the European Commission, the EU executive.

But some small countries still feel aggrieved.

Tussles are continuing over the possible introduction of Qualified Majority Voting on social security, asylum and immigration policy, subsidies to poorer regions and trade in financial services.

Chirac, under pressure to produce a result in Nice, on Sunday gave his fellow leaders a third set of documents setting out possible ways forward on the contentious issues.

On the European Commission, the French presidency document proposed that from 2005 the commission should consist of one commissioner from each member state.

In the current 15-member bloc France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Spain have two commissioners each.

Belgian PM Verhofstadt, right, and Finance Minister Reynders leave the conference centre

But the key decision on commissioners is to be postponed until the EU has expanded to 27 member nations.

Throughout the summit Germany and France have been at odds on voting issues. Germany wanted more votes than France to reflect its greater population. France wanted to ensure it kept the same number of votes as Germany

In a clear bid to win round Germany, the French proposed a significant proportionate increase in the number of German members in the European Parliament.

Initial French attempts to win agreement failed and the draft treaty had to be re-written twice before being accepted by national leaders.

Jaime Gama, the Portuguese Foreign Minister, said that the first French Presidency proposals were "humiliating" for smaller nations.

Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis had opposed the plans for re-weighting of national votes "because it is clear it represents an effort to create a directorate of big countries."

Robin Oakley, CNN.com European Political Editor, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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