Europeans from 28 countries toasted the first ever constitution for Europe after 16 months of hard bartering.

Despite the inauspicious date, Friday 13th, the 105-member Convention on Europe's Future was able - with a palpable sense of relief - to give the nod to the treaty blueprint containing well over 400 articles.

Convention president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, whose autocratic style kept the whole constitutional train from derailing on several occasions, characterised the process as a "mixture of hope and fear sprinkled over with a little dream powder".

EUobserver