If you've been following the news, then you know that the European Union is currently drafting a Reform Treaty to replace its failed constitution. EU leaders have already approved the major points and much of the text of the treaty, but the question remains: Will it receive the required ratification from all 27 member states?

A paper released, Thursday, by the European Policy Center, a Brussels think tank, warned that ratification might not be smooth sailing. Not only might some nations call referendums on the treaty -- allowing the opposition to shut it down -- but France also faces a big hurdle having to do with the way its own constitution is currently worded. 

FP has been following the treaty's progress because it creates a very powerful, new foreign minister post, and it increases the EU's control over its member states. We could expect this in a Revived Roman Empire.

But what if the treaty falls through? What would this mean for end-time prophecy? 

Maybe little.

If the "covenant with many" has already been brokered (The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership for Peace) and is attached to a seven-year time frame starting Jan. 1, 2007 (the European Neighbourhood Policy Instrument), then all we need to see now is a time of peace dawning between Israel and her neighbors so she can rebuild the temple and return to her sacrifices within three and a half years. And -- with the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority dropping the call to "armed struggle" against Israel from its official platform on Friday -- peace may be a nearer reality than before. Read about it here.

So, whether the treaty's ratified may not be relevant.

Of course, the new foreign minister post with increased powers would serve the Antichrist well when he starts to persecute God's people. But don't forget -- there's already a very powerful foreign minister post in the EU -- the High Representative for the Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP), currently held by Javier Solana  (the man behind the covenant with many and its seven-year funding instrument).

Not only is Solana head of the CFSP, but he's also the secretary general of both the Council of the European Union (the most powerful agency in the EU) and the Western European Union. He's over the EU military and has even been granted special emergency powers in case of a major crisis (this, interestingly, was done by the WEU's Assembly Recommendation 666). And he's become the single man who represents the EU to the world.

So, will the EU treaty pass? That will be fascinating to see. But, if it doesn't, then we still well may have all that's needed for the end times to play out.