Jacques Chirac reported on the Nice summit to an often hostile European parliament on Tuesday. The French president declared "we have met our commitments" and "got the best that could be achieved". The summit had settled the 1998's Amsterdam "leftovers" and left none of its own with the path clear for enlargement, "a historic step in the reunification of Europe".

Chirac's positive appraisal of the summit's protracted and often bad-tempered negotiations jarred with a much more sober assessment from commission president, Romano Prodi, and was met with open hostility by some MEPs.

Attempting to deflect the disappointment felt by many MEPs on the issue of "codecision" Chirac argued that the draft treaty would mean an extension, or at least no reduction, in the parliament's powers.

Putting a positive spin on a French EU presidency which has been widely criticised, Chirac emphasised progress on taxation, the European social agenda, the proclamation of the charter of fundamental rights, and an emerging food safety agency. He promised that the EU would continue its efforts to tackle global warming and to maintain the fight against crime.

Commission president, Romano Prodi, took a more sober tone on the Nice IGC stressing that only limited progress had been made. However, he urged MEPs to support it nevertheless saying it enabled enlargement to take place. Prodi, often at odds with president Chirac during the course of the summit, condemned the lack of progress on QMV which he blamed on the "intransigence of certain member states". The president also criticised the vote "weighting" on the council, arguing that the system was now more complex than ever. "Future generations of Europeans had the right to expect more from member states preoccupied with national interests", he said.

Hans-Gert Poettering, the leader of the centre-right European People's Party, continued the sombre assessment. Praising the dignity of small countries, he said, there was "no hiding from the pettiness of large countries" and expressed concern about the shift towards "inter-governmentalism". When the lack of progress on QMV and parliament's influence were considered, Poettering argued that there were more negative than positive aspects emerging from the Nice summit. He said that he would not support the treaty unless parliament was given guarantees that it shape future negotiations.

Belgian Green, Paul Lannoye said parliament had been forgotten and that in future there would be more MEPs sharing less power. "The European vision was missing at Nice," he added.

French National Front MEP, Charles de Gaulle, claimed that France had got nothing from the summit other than some small concessions on culture. He felt the "bitter taste of being betrayed by self-interested and mediocre leaders", he said.

European Liberal democrat, Pat Cox, summed up the mood of the debate arguing that the current IGC model of deciding matters was well past its sell-by date, with more discussions on how to block measures than on how to promote the EU.