But so far the negotiations have merely increased tensions, particularly in smaller countries that fear they will lose power.
If the government had merely increased tax allowances and benefits in line with inflation since 1997, said the work and pensions secretary, James Purnell, there would be 1.7m more poor children in Britain today.
And as any taxi-driver knows, the second tier would have merely increased congestion on the access roads.Others argued that the scheme owed more to Mr Lopez's political needs than to those of the city.
In the nature-v-nurture debate, it seemed like he was always destined to be a villain, and that in saving Kevin from a degenerative neural disease with their aggressive treatments, the Thompsons had merely increased his capacity for evil a hundredfold by unlocking his mind control powers.
Thousands of women came off the pill, even though the risk had merely increased from a one-in-7,000 one-in-7,000 one-in-7,000ease to a two-in-7,000 chance.
Instead, by raising the ante in the ages-old game of armed conflict, nuclear weapons have merely increased the possibility that, however a war begins, it will end in mass destruction of terrifying dimensions.
During the first year of operation (2004) coverage was 5%; by 2010, coverage had merely increased to 9%.
There is strong, observational evidence that targets and incentives intended to increase smoking cessation counselling by GPs have merely increased their propensity to record this activity in patients' medical records.
In 2007 the United States exported $21.7 billion-worth of scrap; if current trends continue that figure could fall by half, or worse.Adding insult to injury, a Baltimore County executive says that metal thefts have merely stopped increasing; they have yet to decline.
