Poland threatens to dig in over revised EU treaty
Wednesday, 13 June 2007
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Poland warned yesterday that it would block any attempt to impose a "quick fix" replacement for the de-railed European constitution in Brussels next week.
Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the Polish Prime Minister, said that he wanted to start lengthy new talks on voting rights. This was one of the most bitterly contested issues in the negotiations on the draft "constitution", blocked by the French and Dutch two years ago.
Earlier, the European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, said symbols of "statehood", such as a flag and anthem, might be dropped to allow a broad agreement to be reached at the Brussels summit next week. But the main threat to a rapid deal now seems to come from Warsaw.
The Polish Prime Minister said he wanted the EU to start negotiations from scratch on the relative strength of the 27 members' voting rights in the Council of Ministers.
"Everyone is hurrying us again," Mr Kaczynski told the French newspaper Le Monde. "They are saying: 'Sign up now quick. The champagne is ready'. We want to calm things down." The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, will fly to Warsaw tomorrow to persuade Mr Kaczynski that urgent progress is needed to streamline EU decision-making. Mr Sarkozy has joined forces with Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, to try to force a deal when European leaders meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday next week.
The new French President also said last week that he intended to go to London "in the next few days" to discuss the proposed cut-down EU treaty with Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. Officials in Paris said yesterday that they had no information about such a visit. It seems that Poland has emerged as a more immediate stumbling block.
Most EU countries have agreed, in principle, that efforts should be made to rescue key parts of the draft constitution, which was blocked by French and Dutch voters in 2005. There is broad agreement that the replacement treaty should be shorter and clearer and that it should no longer be called a "constitution". It should focus instead on the reforms of institutions already negotiated by governments.
The proposed "carry over" reforms include a new permanent EU president, an EU foreign minister, more majority voting and a complex formula for a "double majority" of member states to take decisions in the council of ministers.
Poland says this "double majority", based on population as well as votes, gives too much power to the largest member states. Other obstacles remain. Britain opposes the charter of "fundamental" social and other rights. Germany, and most of the other 17 countries which have ratified the constitution, insist that the charter must be included.
Mr Barroso said "opt-outs" could be a solution. He did not specifically refer to the charter but suggested Britain and Ireland might be offered exemptions which would preserve their national right of veto over justice and internal affairs.
