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EU talks to thrash out new treaty EU talks to thrash out new treaty
(about 2 hours later)
The EU is to start drafting a new treaty to reform the 27-member bloc. The EU has launched three months of talks on the text of a new treaty to reform the 27-member bloc.
The launch of talks in Brussels aims to end two years of confusion after the proposed European constitution was rejected by French and Dutch voters. The step, taken by EU foreign ministers in Brussels, aims to end two years of confusion after French and Dutch voters rejected a draft EU constitution.
After June's summit, where EU leaders agreed on the treaty's outlines, there is a common desire to proceed quickly. Correspondents say there is a common desire to proceed quickly, after the outlines of the new treaty were agreed at a summit in June.
EU foreign ministers will also consider plans to send peacekeepers to Chad to protect refugees from neighbouring Darfur and discuss the Kosovo deadlock. The foreign ministers are also drawing up plans to send peacekeepers to Chad.
100-page draft100-page draft
Monday's ceremony launching the talks on the new treaty - called an inter-governmental conference - will be low-key and brief - just half an hour. Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, submitted a first draft of about 100 pages to legal experts from all member states at a short, low-key ceremony.
This marks the start of an intergovernmental conference, which is expected to thrash out a final text by a summit in Lisbon in October.
JUNE EU DEAL: MAIN ISSUES Double majority voting delayed until 2014Long-term EU presidentHigh Representative for foreign affairs Fewer national veto powers More powers for the European Parliament Son-of-constitution is born At-a-glance: Treaty proposalsJUNE EU DEAL: MAIN ISSUES Double majority voting delayed until 2014Long-term EU presidentHigh Representative for foreign affairs Fewer national veto powers More powers for the European Parliament Son-of-constitution is born At-a-glance: Treaty proposals
Portugal, which holds the EU presidency, will submit a first draft of about 100 pages to legal experts from all member states. The legal teams will begin going through the text in detail on Tuesday.
They will thrash out the details, aiming to reach a final deal by mid-October. Looking to the world outside, EU foreign ministers instructed their military planners to prepare a peacekeeping operation to protect tens of thousands of refugees from Darfur on the Chad border.
Looking to the world outside, EU foreign ministers will start planning to send peacekeepers to protect tens of thousands of refugees from Darfur on the Chad border.
Strongly backed by France and Britain, the mission would include at least 1,500 troops and last up to a year.Strongly backed by France and Britain, the mission would include at least 1,500 troops and last up to a year.
Russia will also feature on the agenda, with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband set to brief his colleagues on the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats after Moscow's refusal to extradite the main suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko in London last year.Russia will also feature on the agenda, with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband set to brief his colleagues on the tit-for-tat expulsion of diplomats after Moscow's refusal to extradite the main suspect in the killing of Alexander Litvinenko in London last year.
But British sources say they are happy with the support they have got from the rest of the EU and are not looking for new decisions.But British sources say they are happy with the support they have got from the rest of the EU and are not looking for new decisions.
What they do want is a united EU front on Kosovo, after Russia blocked a Western-backed resolution at the United Nations which Moscow claimed would have led to independence for the Serbian province.What they do want is a united EU front on Kosovo, after Russia blocked a Western-backed resolution at the United Nations which Moscow claimed would have led to independence for the Serbian province.