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Friday, Dec. 8, 2000

European heads of state also met with their counterparts from 13 Eastern European and Mediterranean candidate countries in the morning for discussions on the future of the union.

Thursday afternoon, they formally adopted a controversial human rights charter but refrained from making it legally binding. European leaders also reached formal agreement on a fiscal pact, discussed social reforms such as equal employment rights and debated the feasibility of continent-wide food safety and maritime security measures.

Tougher environmental and food protection laws have been hotly debated in Europe in recent weeks as the continent remains roiled by a mad-cow scare and France's fear of an environmental disaster in October of a shipwrecked industrial tanker.

But leaders avoided tackling the main topic of the three-day meeting in this French Riviera city: reaching agreement on institutional reforms so the EU can accommodate up to a dozen new members in the coming years.

Throughout the day, heads of state and EU opinions voiced an array of prognoses over whether the Nice summit will end in success, or whether tough decisions will be kicked back to another meeting.

"There is a good chance to have a compromise that we can live with and be quite satisfied with," said Goran Persson, prime minister of Sweden, which is due to assume the rotating EU presidency next year.

Offering some of the most upbeat remarks, Persson added, "We don't know when we will leave Nice. Perhaps it will take some days, but I don't think we'll leave Nice without an agreement."

The summit is scheduled to end Saturday. But French President Jacques Chirac, whose country holds the EU presidency, predicted tough negotiations may extend the summit through Sunday.

"Everyone hopes to reach an accord in Nice," Chirac said. Without one, he added, "Europe can't function efficiently with a growing number of participants."

"It is our moral obligation to ensure that Nice is a success," said Romano Prodi, president of the European Commission, during a press conference Thursday. Earlier, Prodi had placed the chances of success at 50-50.

But EU members remain deadlocked over a handful of reform questions. The first, known as qualified majority voting, aims to streamline decision making by scrapping unanimous agreement on certain votes. Although EU members often use the majority voting system, many balk at expanding the procedures to new areas.

European countries are also at odds over re-weighting per-country votes, to more accurately reflect their populations. Votes now range from 10 apiece for the EU's four largest members, to only two for tiny Luxembourg.

But France, in particular, has balked at giving Germany greater voting clout, even though Paris has 23 million fewer citizens.

Those two points remain the biggest stumbling blocks in the Nice negotiations, EU spokesman Jonathan Faull said Thursday.

Others proposed reforms in dispute include trimming the number of European commissioners and appointing them on a rotating basis. Allowing some countries to work together on cooperative schemes, without requiring the entire body to join in, is also up for discussion.

At an afternoon press conference, EU President Nicole Fontaine refused to predict the outcome of the summit negotiations.

"Very sincerely, I think today almost no one can predict," she told reporters. "I have the feeling it's like mayonnaise that's trying to gel." But, Fontaine added, "there is a feeling of hope."

Stone-throwing anti-globalization protesters disrupted the first day of the conference. Police had to drive them back from the convention center with tear gas, bringing tears to some delegates' eyes, the Associated Press reported.

Copyright 2000 by United Press International. All rights reserved.