After seemingly endless rounds of marathon negotiations, the longest summit...

After seemingly endless rounds of marathon negotiations, the longest summit in the history of the European Union concluded in the early hours of Monday with a last-minute agreement. Officials stated that the agreement was reached after much give-and-take, with middle-sized countries such as Portugal and Holland making significant gains while the smallest nations were required to make the maximum concessions. The leaders of the EU endorsed a comprehensive overhaul of house-keeping rules to ensure that the bloc's decision-making capacity would not be overwhelmed with the addition of new member countries.

Monday, 11 December, 2000