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No movement

• Mark Mardell
• 18 Jun 07, 03:52 PM

LUXEMBOURG: The mood among those who want a deal at the weekend is gloomy. One foreign minister who wants as much of the constitution back as possible said this meeting had been between "a disaster and a catastrophe". The Czech foreign minister says he's cancelled his weekend appointments. It's going to be what Jack Straw used to call a "three-shirter" when the prime ministers and presidents meet for the European Council in Brussels.

It's not only the Brits who are a problem, the Poles are sticking their heels in, demanding a new voting system based on the square root of population, which gives more power to middle-sized countries like theirs.

Under the existing proposals they have 79 votes, under their plan they would get 65. But the Germans get reduced from 170 to 96, and the UK from 124 to 82. Malta would be bumped up from one to seven.

There really has been no movement here. But in London Mr Blair has been re-crafting his red lines. Conservatives say they are artfully drafted. It's true, for a master communicator Mr Blair's language is a little odd. What does is it mean that the British foreign secretary won't be "displaced"? What is "control" of common law? If he won't allow a "big say" over the benefits system, what about a "small say"?

But Mr Blair has a point when he says that over the last 10 years Europe moved in Britain's direction: some would say that is why French voters rejected the constitution in the first place.

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Royal rupture

• Mark Mardell
• 18 Jun 07, 01:51 PM

LUXEMBOURG: Despite the French media's much-vaunted respect for the private lives of politicians, the papers are full of the split-up between the defeated Socialist presidential candidate, , and her long-time partner, Francois Hollande, the party's general secretary.

The big headline across the Parisien is "La Rupture". This could have a big political impact as the two are struggling for the party's soul and perhaps its leadership. As I during the French election, it's already had a disastrous effect on the socialist campaign.

It's one of those tricky areas between the personal and the political. As it happens, I (personally) agree with many of those commenters on my blog entry about Sarkozy who said that we should keep our noses out of people's private lives. But I fail to see how a man appearing in front of journalists at a big public event is in any sense "in private", and in this particular case Madame Royal announced the split herself on French radio.

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