NAME: EU CONSTITUTION 291004N TAPE: EF04/1063 IN_TIME: 10:28:35:22 DURATION: 00:04:59:22 SOURCES: EBS DATELINE: Rome - 29 Oct 2004/File RESTRICTIONS: SHOTLIST 1. Wide shot of hall 2. Various of Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi greeting European leaders 3. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern 4. Various of German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer signing constitution 5. Various of Estonian Prime Minister Juhan Parts signing the constitution 6. British Prime Minister Tony Blair clapping 7. Various of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero signing constitution 8. Various of French President Jacques Chirac signing constitution 9. Various of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi signing constitution 10. Various of Latvian President Veira Vike-Freiberga signing constitution 11. Various of Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenend signing constitution 12. Various of Tony Blair and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw signing constitution 13. Silvio Berlusconi watching signing 14. Various of Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul taking part in the ceremony 15. SOUNDBITE: (French) Jose Manuel Barroso, Incoming European Commission President "The ratification of the constitution is up to the governments. The European institutions, on their part, will do whatever is necessary to inform both political leaders and European citizens fairly and objectively about the contents of the constitution, so that the parliaments that have to approve the constitution and the people who have to express themselves via referendum can do it in an informed manner." 16. Blair listening 17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jan Peter Balkenend, Dutch Prime Minister: "Today Europe enters a new era. Let's firmly grasp the opportunities the constitution offers. We have every reason to be optimistic, to believe and trust in our common future. Thank you." 18. Delegates clapping 19. Various of European leaders gathering for group photograph 20. Various of European Constitution being put away into metal cases FILE FOOTAGE Rome, Italy, 1957 21. Various of leaders signing the European Union's founding treaty STORYLINE European leaders on Friday signed the EU's first constitution, which is designed to give the union a sharper international profile and speed up decision-making in a club now embracing 25 nations. The treaty was the result of 28 months of sometimes acrimonious debate between the 25 EU governments and now faces ratification in national parliaments. At least nine EU nations also plan to put it to a referendum, increasing chances that it may not take effect in 2007 as scheduled. A "no" result in any country would stop the constitution in its tracks. The EU leaders signed the document at the Campidoglio, a Michaelangelo-designed complex of buildings on Rome's Capitoline Hill, along with the leaders of Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey and Croatia - four candidates for EU membership. The event was overshadowed by a spat over the makeup of the next EU executive that stems from misgivings about a conservative Italian nominee. On the margins of the signing, the leaders sought to resolve the dispute over Rocco Buttiglione, the incoming EU justice commissioner who is opposed by a large segment of the 732-member European Parliament. A papal confidant, Buttiglione raised concerns by saying at his confirmation hearing that he believed homosexuality to be a sin and that women are better off married and at home. On Wednesday, Barroso withdrew his team from a vote in the European parliament, asking for more time to make changes. If Buttiglione goes, others will likely go, too, to preserve a political balance that will secure European Parliament approval for the new EU executive. Social Democrat Laszlo Kovacs, Hungary's former foreign minister and the incoming energy commissioner; Latvia's Ingrida Udre, a Green and the next fiscal affairs commissioner; and Liberal Neelie Kroes, the Dutch businesswoman nominated to be competition commissioner, have drawn opposition in the European Parliament. The constitution foresees simpler voting rules to end decision gridlock in a club that ballooned to 25 members this year and plans to absorb half a dozen more in the years ahead. The document is neither the ambitious document Euro-idealists had hoped for, nor the blueprint for a European superstate Euro-sceptics have warned against. It includes new powers for the European Parliament and ends national vetoes in 45 new policy areas - including judicial and police cooperation, education and economic policy - but not in foreign and defence policy, social security, taxation or cultural matters. The constitution was signed in the sala degli Orazi e Curiazi, the same spectacular hall in a Renaissance palazzo where in 1957 six nations - Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - signed the union's founding treaty. The constitution was signed in alphabetical order by country, led by Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt and Karel de Gucht, his foreign minister. The 30-minute ceremony concluded by the playing of the European anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.