European leaders sign EU constitution

Long-disputed treaty still faces ratification by 25 governments

British Prime Minister Tony Blair, seated left, and Foreign Minister Jack Straw sign the EU Constitution in the Campidoglio, the political and religious center of ancient Rome, and current home of Rome's city hall, on Friday.

The Associated Press Updated: 9:17 a.m. ET Oct. 29, 2004

ROME - European leaders on Friday signed the EU's first constitution, designed to give the union a sharper international profile and speed up decision-making in a club now embracing 25 nations

The treaty is the product of 28 months of sometimes acrimonious debate between the 25 EU governments and now faces ratification in national parliaments. At least nine EU nations also plan to put it to a referendum, increasing chances that it may not take effect in 2007 as scheduled

The EU leaders signed the document at the Campidoglio, a Michaelangelo-designed complex of buildings on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Also present at the ceremony were the leaders from Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Croatia -- four candidates for EU membership.

The event was overshadowed by disagreement over the makeup of the next EU executive that stems from misgivings about a conservative Italian nominee. Rocco Buttiglione, the incoming EU justice commissioner, is opposed by a large segment of the 732-member European Parliament.

The conservative Catholic and papal confidante has raised concerns by saying he believed homosexuality is a sin and that women are better off married and at home.

The constitution foresees simpler voting rules to end decision gridlock in a club that ballooned to 25 members this year and plans to absorb half a dozen more in the years ahead. It includes new powers for the European Parliament and ends national vetoes in 45 new policy areas -- including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy -- but not in foreign and defense policy, social security, taxation or cultural matters.

The constitution was signed in the sala degli Orazi e Curiazi, the same spectacular hall in a Renaissance palazzo where in 1957 six nations -- Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg -- signed the union's founding treaty.

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