EUROPE: How to Spoil a Birthday Party

It was supposed to be a festive birthday party. The European Community turned 20 last week, and leaders of its nine member states celebrated the anniversary by gathering in the damask-lined hall atop Rome's Capitoline Hill where the unique organization was born.

But the mood in the hall was sullen. After the initial round of speeches, the delegates could agree only on overall aims. No amount of brave words could hide the fact that the lofty goals of the Treaty of Rome seem more distant today than a decade ago.

But what...

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