At talks between EU foreign ministers in the Italian city of Naples, there has been concensus on some issues, but the tough decisions have been put off until later

The intense negotiations on a future constitution for the bloc were seen as crucial before 10 new members join next year. The concrete result was mainly on defence. France, Germany and Britain put forward a joint arrangement that was broadly supported by the other nations. Most of the key decisions though have been delayed until a summit in Brussels in mid December. Speaking on the issue of changing the voting system, the Italian foreign minister Franco Frattini told a press conference that while nothing has been decided, many ideas that come forward were what he calls convergent. He said that many countries expressed the desire to have a more equal system. Some states are demanding easier majority voting that reflects population size, while others, such as Spain, want to keep what they were given at a summit in Nice in 2000. Madrid, for example, obtained practically the same voting power as that given to Berlin, even though the Spanish population is much smaller. Fratinni also said there was general agreement on the idea there should be one commissioner for each member state. However, he said that in the future, when Europe is more consolidated, there will be the chance to revise that and have a leaner, more efficient commission.