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European Union leaders meet on Saturday to hear a last-ditch proposal by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi aimed at saving talks on a new EU constitution from failure.

Few leaders were optimistic a breakthrough was possible in the core dispute over national voting rights, in which Germany and France line up against Spain and Poland.

French President Jacques Chirac(R) speaks with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder(C) at the opening session of the European Summit in Brussels, December 12, 2003.  [Reuters]

The row stems from a summit in Nice in 2000 which gave Poland and Spain nearly the same voting rights as Germany, whose population is nearly twice as large as theirs.

The new constitution would replace this with a system under which most decisions are taken by a majority of more than half of EU states, representing over 60 percent of its population.

Poland and Spain resist this, while Germany and France are determined to push it through. Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz said there were no signs of agreement.

"I cannot rule out a common European failure," he said.

French President Jacques Chirac told a news conference that the position of Spain and Poland was "incompatible with the vision we have of an enlarged Europe."

Spain's Foreign Minister Ana Palacio rejected this.

"Europe is built by everyone and here nobody, not a founder, nor the most populous, nor the least populous, nor the most recent, can kidnap the European interest," she told a briefing.

Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said a deal was still possible.

"I give it a fair chance that the Italians will solve it," he told reporters. "They will find a compromise but first we need a mini-crisis, and that also belongs to this process."

Leaders of the 15 current EU members and the 10 states due to join next year are in Brussels to hammer out the EU's first constitution, intended to supersede a series of complex treaties which have become unwieldy and threaten gridlock in the Union.

Berlusconi, host of the summit as Italy holds the rotating EU presidency, will release amendments early on Saturday for leaders to consider before talks resume at 11 a.m. (5 a.m. EST).

His team was drawing them up overnight after bilateral meetings with leaders to explore their differences. But it was clear the vote-weighting row was the most important.

SCHROEDER REJECTS COMPROMISE

Diplomats said Berlusconi and other leaders had tried to persuade German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to keep the general Nice arrangements, but with Germany's weighted votes to increase to 33 or 34 from 29 now. Spain and Poland have 27 each.

They said he rejected this, and also ruled out postponing a decision on the constitution, but not the possibility of delaying the entry into force of a decision. He also seemed flexible on the 60 percent figure in the double majority system.

France and Germany were harsh opponents of the U.S.-led war in Iraq this year, while Spain and Poland backed it and have sent troops.

France and Germany then broke the EU's budget rules, to the dismay of states which have introduced swathes of reforms to bring their own law in line with EU rules.

Talks are expected to run late into the night on Saturday, but Berlusconi has good reason to try to wrap them up as soon as possible -- AC Milan, the football team he owns, is playing in the World Club Championship in Tokyo on Sunday.

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