EU leaders have begun their summit meeting in Brussels, at which they will try and agree on plans for a new treaty to replace the European Consitution.
The Constitution was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands, and the leaders of the 27 have agreed to abandon it.
They hope a new treaty, proposed by the German Presidency, will incorporate most of the important parts of the Constitution, but Poland, Britain and Holland still have reservations.
Arriving for his last international meeting, Tony Blair said Britain had set out four problem areas with the new text, and insisted that there will have to be significant change. 'Our demands in these areas must be satisfied in full', he said.
The British problems include the functions of the so called EU foreign minster, soveriegnty over criminal law and the legal status of the charter of fundamental rights.
The Dutch Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, who lost a referendum on the EU constitution, said he was broadly satisfied with the German proposals but would like an enhanced role for national parliaments in the EU , and wants the critiereia for admitting new states to the EU tightened up.
But there was silence from the key personality at this summit - the Polish president Lech Kazcinsky.
Polans wants a completely different voting system to the one proposed and agreed by almost every other state.
The only country backing Polands demand is the czech republic. but its prime minister Mirek Topolanek said on arrival, we are ready for compromise.
