Torturous treaty negotiations unfold

A meeting in Rome on Saturday (4 October) to discuss the draft EU Constitution made such torturously slow progress that the Italian Presidency had to draw up a new 'methodology' to speed the whole process up.

Things ran late in the morning after 27 countries, the Presidents of the Commission and the Parliament as well as the Italian Presidency all had their say on the treaty blueprint.

With a speaking time of four minutes ...