Crisis-hit EU faces 'weakening' role on world stage

In the short term its political strength will not suffer, but over time the 25-nation grouping's role will diminish, said Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who holds the EU's reins until the end of June.

"I don't think that there will be an immediate effect on the international role that Europe can play, and that the Europe claims to have," said Juncker, after talks on a budget deal collapsed amid acrimony.

"The weakening of European will be a more slow, rampant, imperceptible process, which others will see more quickly than Europeans," he added.

Juncker chastised EU leaders for not reaching an agreement here on the budget and casting the 25-nation bloc into a "deep crisis".

He said ironically that he would have "to explain the vigour and strength of Europe to the president of the United States" during a planned trip to Washington in the coming days.

The failure of the budget talks -- notably blocked by Britain's refusal to surrender its long-cherished EU budget rebate -- came a day after the EU was forced to postpone plans to ratify its new constitution, after the charter was crushingly rejected by French and Dutch voters.

Meanwhile, Britain's newspapers demanded Prime Minister Tony Blair drive the European Union in a new direction yesterday after talks on the EU budget collapsed in Brussels.

Several newspapers said the summit stalemate presented an opportunity to lead the EU out of the wreckage and urged Blair to take command.

Talks ended Friday with no agreement on the EU's 2007-2013 spending plans with Blair's call for wide-ranging budget reforms and intransigence on Britain's rebate proving the sticking point amid the turmoil.