Brussels, Belgium ? Europe’s leaders – 29 presidents and prime ministers – on Thursday began a two-day crisis summit aimed at getting the European Union back on track after voters in two nations rejected a proposed EU constitution.

But further division seemed far more likely as the leaders confronted a variety of disputes, ranging from demands that Great Britain forgo an annual payment from the EU to anger among citizens who believe that EU has ignored their interests.

The first casualty of the meeting was the EU constitution. Leaders emerging from the meetings said the group had agreed to postpone further consideration of the constitution.

Behind the scenes, people already are calling the meeting the Humpty Dumpty summit.

“You can’t yet call it a breakup, but it’s close,” said Dutch European Union expert Rob Boudewijn. “The headline is obvious: ‘Summit Disaster.”‘

Officially, this was to be a budget meeting. The leaders of the EU, which last summer expanded from 15 to 25 nations, were to determine how much money would be needed in 2007 through 2013.

However, the focus changed when France and then the Netherlands rejected the constitution, both by wide margins.

The vote crippled French President Jacques Chirac, who – in an attempt to distract attention from his own failings, according to the British press – brought up the annual EU payments to Great Britain. Negotiated in the 1980s, the payments, close to $6 billion a year, were to compensate for the fact that Great Britain contributed far more money to the EU than it gets back.