EU:EU leaders meet in Lisbon today for a summit intended to end six years of institutional wrangling and decide a new blueprint for the future of the Union.
The key issue on the agenda is the Reform Treaty, an impenetrable legal text that sets out to change how the EU takes decisions and pinpoint new policy priorities.
All constitutional trappings - EU flags and anthems - attached to the now defunct EU constitution have been deleted from the new text, which, though it looks ugly, could still prove effective.
"We need the EU to speak with the single strong voice to deliver global leadership. We need more efficient and democratic decision-making to deliver policy results that benefit our citizens. That is why we need agreement," commission president José Manuel Barroso said yesterday.
As the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, observed at a summit in June, the new treaty retains 90 per cent of the substance of the constitution, which was rejected by Dutch and French voters. Critical elements such as putting a single person in charge of EU foreign relations remain, as does the new post of president of the European Council - a position that some diplomats believe Mr Ahern may have his eye on.
The treaty would bring in a new voting system for the council of ministers which better reflects population size, introduce a new European diplomatic service and make the Charter of Fundamental Rights legally binding in most states.
Yet there are enough differences in the texts to enable most EU leaders to argue that a referendum is not necessary for ratification. This is true for British prime minister Gordon Brown, who has clung to his "red lines" to pacify the media, and also for the Dutch and Danish leaders.
London says the Charter of Fundamental Rights will not apply to it (Poland has followed suit). It has also negotiated "opt- outs" from justice and home affairs decisions, a move followed by the Government.
Several points remain to be clarified in Lisbon to enable EU leaders to agree the treaty. Probably the most contentious is Poland's demand to have a delaying mechanism, known as the Ioannina Compromise, written into the text of the draft treaty.
This enables states that have been narrowly outvoted at the council to delay a decision for a few months.
"The most important thing for us is to have the right tools to be able to control the legislative process," says Konrad Szymanski, an MEP for the ruling Law and Justice Party, who notes that EU decisions taken by majority vote on the Services and Reach directives did not suit Warsaw.
Warsaw also wants the right to a permanent legal adviser at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which would put it on an equal footing with the EU's five big states.
Despite an election in Poland two days after the summit, Polish diplomats insist there will be no repeat of the events of June, when the Kaczynski twins, Lech and Jaroslaw, sparked a diplomatic row with Germany over the second World War.
Several points raised by the European Parliament - such as when the new EU foreign chief and president post are created - have yet to be resolved. But perhaps the biggest challenge remains Italy's objections to a proposed redistribution of MEPs.
Rome is fighting to keep the same number of seats as Britain and France despite having a lower population. And with Italian national standing at stake, anything is possible.