Rights charter creating division on new EU treaty

A short 22-page document signed seven years ago in the French city of Nice laying out citizen's civil, political and social rights is one of the major sticking points of the current negotiations on a new treaty for the EU.

It is the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Under the proposed EU constitution - given the thumbs-down by French and Dutch voters two years ago - its 54 articles were integrated into the text and became a legally-binding part of the treaty.

Now with negotiations un...