It was billed as the gathering that would overhaul the European Union's unwieldy decision-making structures, producing a system that could run efficiently even when nearly a dozen new countries join the bloc during the next decade.
PAGE A16 Europe's Mild Reform What was billed as a gathering to overhaul the European Union's unwieldy decision-making structures to accommodate new members has produced only minimal adjustments.
This would leave the EU with its present, unwieldy, decision-making apparatus and may set the stage for a split between countries that want to gather closer and the rest.For background see articleTo listen to a discussion of the news in the coming week click here.
The concepts and virtues of open access that seem innately comprehensible to many of us may still seem mysterious and unwieldy to decision-makers at all levels and on all sides of the debate.
Jonathan Powell, a former aide to Mr Blair, says that the cabinet has been thought too unwieldy a forum for decision-making since the 1970s.
"The new Europe will be more unwieldy and slower in decision-making -- that could weaken our foreign policy and increase the perception of American power".
Yet, even if Modi is victorious, he would most likely lead an unwieldy coalition government involving decision-making by consultation and consensus, a balancing act that is not his strong suit.
But the real significance of the meeting was that he was welcoming China, India, Brazil and others into central, permanent roles in deciding the world economy's course, even if that made the decision-making unwieldy.
By reaching across the divide between developed and developing countries it created a forum more consistent with the pattern of international relations in the 21st century, and by limiting attendance to a smaller number than the other global multilateral bodies, it sought to escape from the unwieldy inertia of their decision-making processes.
To make decision-making less unwieldy with a much bigger membership, it would introduce qualified majority voting in which bigger countries would have more votes than smaller ones.
Crist's public acknowledgment gave rise to the theory that the Jaguars' business side would drive a football decision, an awkward and unwieldy situation that their general manager, Gene Smith, debunked again and again.
