The leading candidates for membership of the EU have demanded a full say in any future constitutional reform of the Union and promised to pursue their ambition to join even if the Nice summit failed.
The 15 EU leaders met their counterparts from the applicant states in Nice yesterday at the start of four days of negotiations aimed at reforming the EU and preparing the way for enlargement.
Most of the leading candidates are former communist countries in central and eastern Europe but the group also includes Cyprus, Malta and Turkey. The Swiss President, Mr Adolf Ogi, announced at the meeting that Switzerland plans to reactivate negotiations with the EU with a view to becoming a full member.
The reforms being discussed by EU leaders in Nice are designed to simplify the EU's decision-making process and make it more difficult for states to block initiatives.
The Polish Prime Minister, Mr Jerzy Buzek, said after the meeting they were extremely keen that the inter-governmental conference be concluded with success so the EU could be ready for enlargement. "If not, the idea of stability, security and welfare in Europe cannot be achieved," he said.
Hungary's Prime Minister, Mr Viktor Orban, warned that, if the EU leaders failed to agree on the necessary reforms, the impact on public opinion in his country could be damaging. "If there is failure at Nice it would lead to disappointment and confusion among Hungarian people, but that would not change in any way the determination of the Hungarian people and government," he said.
Although President Jacques Chirac, who is chairing the summit, suggested that the Balkan states should be invited to start the process of applying for EU membership, other EU leaders said that such a move was premature.
The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroder, is pressing for a further inter-governmental conference in 2004 to define how power is shared between Brussels, the 15 EU member-states and the regions. The leaders of Germany's 16 federal states have told Mr Schroder that they will not ratify any treaty agreed at Nice unless it is accompanied by such a commitment.
Hungary's Mr Orban told the EU leaders that he found the prospect of a further IGC in 2004 disquieting and he insisted that, if such a process were initiated, the applicant states should be involved.
Hungary, Estonia and Slovenia are among the applicant countries that have made most progress towards fulfilling the conditions for entry to the EU but most observers believe that they will not be allowed to join until Poland, the most populous country among the candidates, is ready.
Estonia's Foreign Minister, Mr Toomas Ilves, said that enlargement would benefit the EU economically and politically, but he warned: "Waiting around for a big bang in the distant future would be harmful for the countries that have taken risks to reform."