Greece has launched the biggest security operation in its history to protect EU leaders during a three-day meeting that starts this evening near the northern city of Thessaloniki, writes Denis Staunton
Some 16,000 police officers are on duty to deal with an expected 60,000 demonstrators for a fairer system of globalisation and the Greek authorities have deployed surface-to-air missiles and naval vessels to defend against terrorist attack.
The summit is likely to be dominated by a discussion of the outcome of the Convention on the Future of Europe, which produced a draft constitution for the EU last week. Some countries, led by Germany, want to approve the draft with a minimum of revisions and are pressing for an Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) that begins in October to be given just two months to complete its work.
Other countries, including Ireland, want to allow the IGC to work until May 2004 and favour the appointment of a "reflection group" of civil servants to revise the text. Spain and Poland have already signalled that they are unhappy with new institutional arrangements that would reduce their voting strength in the Council of Ministers. Britain and France have expressed reservations about a number of articles in the treaty and the Government wants to change some proposals on justice and home affairs and measures to combat tax fraud.
The Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, yesterday called on the leaders to "improve" the draft by extending the use of qualified majority voting and throwing out some proposals to reform EU institutions. Mr Prodi said that the right of veto remained for too many policy areas and that, in a Union of 25 or more, that could paralyse decision-making.
"Accepting unanimity as a rule for decision-making means no decisions will be taken. The right of veto spells deadlock for the Union," he said.
The summit will start this evening with a discussion of asylum and immigration policy, followed by a dinner during which they will review developments in Iraq and in the Middle East peace process. The EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, will tomorrow present some guidelines towards the development of an EU security strategy, identifying current threats and outlining possible common responses to them.
The leaders will consider a proposal by the French President, Mr Jacques Chirac, to commit the EU to giving €1 billion a year to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS. The US has promised to donate $1 billion to the fund each year if others provide twice that amount but some countries, including Ireland, are reluctant to match the US funds.
Ms Lucy Matthew, European director of DATA, the organisation founded by Bono and Bob Geldof to help Africa, yesterday called on the EU to find at least a $1 billion for the fund.
"The Global Fund desperately needs this money, a billion a year for the Global Fund from the EU would raise the bar, and help towards getting a billion out of the United States too. With 30 million people living with HIV in Africa alone, we can't afford not to fund the fund," she said.