EU leaders had one aim: to agree a deal that would not require referendums, writes Mark Hennessy
EU negotiations are long and drawn-out, Byzantine in their complexity and replete with political theatre designed for consumption by home audiences, rather than by other politicians around the table.
And that is on a good day. During bad days, like those endured in the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels over the past two days, they can frequently descend into the land of the absurd.
Most EU leaders had one central aim: to agree terms for a treaty to be hammered out later this year that would need to be put to referendum in as few member states as possible.
Given that 18 states have ratified the deal brokered by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2004, the majority wanted to save as much of it as possible, once troublesome, if meaningless, symbols were jettisoned.
Out went references to an EU anthem and EU flag, even though both exist. So, too, went the title of EU foreign minister, but not the role. Instead, he/she will rejoice in the Ruritanian-like High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.
Reaching agreement among 27 leaders is difficult, but it was particularly so this time, given that some of the key players were not even around the table.
Desperately keen to secure a foreign policy triumph on his first outing, newly-elected French president Nicholas Sarkozy managed late on Thursday to get a change to the proposed text that raised questions over future EU competition rules. British prime minister Tony Blair agreed to the amendment over dinner, believing it mattered little since the EU's determination to have "free and undistorted competition" appears 13 times elsewhere in other EU treaties.
Like Banquo's ghost, however, his successor Gordon Brown, now just days away from taking over power, disagreed, and he was not slow in humiliating Blair.
Having phoned Brussels three times, Brown forced a chastened Blair to backtrack and insist on a protocol to any treaty agreed that would copperfasten the existing rules, and to emerge before the television cameras to do so publicly.
Meanwhile, the Poles continued their hard-man negotiating tactics, having previously sought extra votes at the EU table to compensate them for their second World War dead. Bemused by the Polish move, one Irish diplomat said: "I wonder what would happen if we asked for compensating votes for the losses of the Famine? What population would we have now? Fourteen million?"
During Thursday's night leaders' dinner, Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski infuriated German chancellor Angela Merkel by pointing out that the Poles had been on "the right side" during the war.
Following a series of meetings, some signs emerged that the Poles were prepared to compromise, as long as they continued to hold on to the voting strength they were given in 1999 until 2014.
The latter date is significant, since the next seven-year EU budget is due to be agreed the year before, and it may well prove to be the last occasion when Poland can secure major payments from Brussels.
However, hopes for a settlement were dashed once Kaczynski appeared on Polish TV rejecting compromise, which led Merkel to threaten to bypass them altogether.