Constitution To Be Adopted in Rome

EU leaders meeting in Brussels on Tuesday agreed that the European Constitution agreed on earlier this month in Brussels should be officially adopted in Rome in November. The European Parliament had called for the text to be adopted in Madrid as a tribute to the victims of the terrorist attacks on the city on March 11. After failing to get the text agreed on time during the Italian presidency at the end of last year, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pressed successfully for the text to be adopted in Rome in any instance. Traditionally the treaties have been signed in the country that holds the presidency of the Council at the time it is agreed, in this case Ireland. But Rome has great symbolic power, since it was where the original Treaty of Rome was signed in 1957. The new constitution would replace that historic document. (EUobserver.com)