EU ministers meet amid protests

European Union foreign ministers gathered Friday to plan a season of haggling over the bloc's first constitution, seek common ground on Iraq and discuss the tattered Middle East peace process. Meeting on the picturesque banks of Italy's Lake Garda, the ministers will also review work on a new security strategy designed to make the EU a more effective global actor and avoid future crises such as their damaging rift over the Iraq war. Two groups of around 250 anti-globalization protesters blocked two main access routes into the mountain-ringed town, causing lengthy tailbacks down the narrow, snaking roads. Police watched the two roadblocks from a distance without trying to move the crowds, and the ministers reached the town by helicopter or by boat across the lake to avoid them. Diplomats said the ministers would weigh a response to the United States' bid for financial and military support in Iraq.