The election proper takes place by secret ballot, with each EC member having one vote, on 25 March 2012.

Among the 1200 EC members, there have been temptation to cast a blank vote to force a new round of campaign.

A total of 48 countries, four of them EC members, were investigated.

Many of these EC members, together with like-minded professionals, decided afterwards to build on this foundation.

Parliament passed legislation on 11 December to increase EC members' retirement age from 65 to 66.

Mediterranean EC members were concerned that enlargement would divert regional aid from the south to the east.

Portugal became the poorest EC member with almost a quarter of its people living off the land.

Then high-inflation EC members would have to get their act together, or lose reserves and revenue.

Greece will be the only EC member still outside the mechanism.

The 12 EC members may, however, pay an immense price for turning the Irish down.