EU leaders rediscovered a spirit of unity on Friday after the Madrid bombings, agreeing to revive stalled constitution talks, boost joint action against terrorism and - less convincingly - pursue economic reform.
Leaders of the 25 current and future European Union states turned the page on a year of strife over the Iraq war, EU voting rights and budget deficits to send a message of cohesion and resolve to their frightened publics.
They pledged a renewed effort to implement a catalogue of economic reforms agreed in 2000 in a bid to overtake the United States and Japan by 2010 after four years of sluggish progress.
"There's a very strong sense of unity in Europe at the moment for very obvious reasons after what has happened in Madrid," British Prime Minister Tony Blair told reporters.
The determination to move forward together was reflected in security measures approved on Thursday evening, including the appointment of a first EU counter-terrorism co-ordinator, and in the economic reform agenda, Blair said.
Aiming to defuse the most serious diplomatic conflict looming over EU enlargement, they pledged to accommodate any peace deal to reunite Cyprus in EU law before it and nine other mainly east European countries join the bloc on May 1.
But the most important result of the changed mood was an agreement to wrap up by mid-June talks on a first constitution for the enlarged bloc, which collapsed in acrimony last December amid dogged resistance by Spain and Poland on voting rights.
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who chaired the two-day summit, said the climate for moving ahead with economic reforms meant to make Europe the world's most competitive economy by the end of the decade was better than over the last four years.
But many officials were sceptical about whether the biggest EU governments are willing to risk more painful reforms after the voter backlash in recent weeks in France, Germany and Spain.
CYPRUS DEAL: The European Union pledged on Friday to accommodate any Cyprus peace settlement before the east Mediterranean island joins the wealthy bloc on May 1.
Meanwhile, the United Nations prepared for a weekend of gruelling negotiations at the Swiss Alpine resort of Buergenstock where the foreign ministers of Greece and Turkey were due to help their ethnic cousins end decades of conflict.
UN secretary-general Kofi Annan was expected to arrive at the snowy hideaway over the weekend. The prime ministers of Greece and Turkey were also set to join the talks on Monday.
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