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Here excerpts from a BBC reporter diary who is in Brussels now:
European leaders face difficult discussions in Brussels to try to break the deadlock over the budget, after several states announced the postponement of their referendums on the constitution. The BBC's Europe Editor Mark Mardell is there - keeping a summit diary.
It is that time in a summit where you hang on to ever precious rumour and squeeze it dry for meaning.
Chirac, Schroeder and Berlusconi have just left the summit. So is it all over?
No, they left without their entourages, so could they be cooking up a cunning plan?
No again - more like a siesta. They are returning at six local time for another meeting.
Old hands look despairing and say to each other "Do you remember Nice?"
That was the summit that went long into the night and where newspapers featured pictures of a colleague from Sky snoozing on the floor.
One of the perks of covering these summits used to be that the host country would put the show on at the most exotic location they could find and give you presents.
I missed Dublin so never got the smoked salmon, but I'm still rather fond of a terracotta water jug from Greece.
When I returned home with this, a bottle of wine and some olive oil my son acutely said "Isn't that a bribe?"
But now all the summits are held in Brussels and we are trapped in an airless basement.
There are no bribes or sorry presents, beyond free black coffee. I have a horrible feeling we might need lots of it.
Although it is difficult to think what they might be talking about, we know Britain has now put up the idea that the new eastern countries could stop paying their bit of the rebate.
But frankly that is small beer. The Swedes say there is no point carrying on. The Italians threaten to use their veto. And Chirac has magisterially dismissed the idea of talking about agricultural reform.
Hitting the pause button
I'm told the dinner of prime ministers and presidents was a very relaxed affair but permeated with an air of unreality.
Schroeder in particular is said to have been in a daze, unable to believe the constitution is dead and his own political career is over.
Some of the leaders think that the "pause" is just like the button on their DVD, that they can really hit it a year or two later and the constitution will keep playing out.
But probably the most worrying consequence of a delay is that it stops new countries joining the EU - not just Turkey but Croatia and other Balkan states.
Some worry that without the hope of joining the club there will no reason to curb old ethnic enmities.
