Boring EU Meetings? Yawn . . .

"It doesn't have to be exciting," Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker told EUobserver on Friday, while Polish prime minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz compared the reflection period to a collective "nap" and Czech president Vaclav Klaus summed up the summit as "word games" on the EU charter.

"Boredom is a part of life," an EU diplomat stated.

Germany's Angela Merkel and Poland's Lech Kaczynski had set the tone on Wednesday night (14 June) by dutifully watching the German-Poland football game side-by-side in a VIP box.

Austria's Mr Schussel kept up the momentum by placing a pair of orange-and-black springy footballs on the head of his blushing press spokeswoman while greeting press on Thursday afternoon.

Swedish foreign minister Jan Eliasson, surrounded by a melee of diplomats, yelled "Come on, do a Brolin!" in a reference to a famous Swedish soccer star as the match kicked off.

And Swedish prime minister Goran Persson let out a guttural roar in the car park, as his team's 1-0 victory came through.

UK prime minister Tony Blair also made mysterious, short disappearances during the England game.