EU birthday card sets off diplomatic wrangling

The EU's leaders locked horns at the European Council summit, 8 March 2007, on the question of what to write in the statement to be issued on the EU's 50th anniversary on 27 March. Debate on the contents of the so-called 'Berlin declaration' was a proxy for wider debate about the future of Europe and - in particular - what to do with the stalled EU constitutional treaty.