Register - WIN a $10,000 Safari | Login  EU leaders clinch
constitution deal  By Sebastian Alison  June 20, 2004  After a
glass or two of champagne and a good night's sleep to celebrate
agreeing on a historic constitution for the European Union, the
bloc's leaders start the tough job of persuading their people to
ratify it.  They also need to find a new president of the EU's
executive commission, a task which has already exposed lingering
divisions between member states over the US-led war in Iraq and
deep-seated differences in their vision of European integration.
The constitution will give the bloc stronger leadership with a
long-term president of the European Council and a foreign
minister to represent it on the world stage, more powers for the
European Parliament and more decisions taken by majority vote.
It is also meant to make the bloc's complex institutions easier
for citizens to understand.  "This is a fundamental advance for
the European Union," said Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who
resurrec