Poland Still Hanging Tough
I wrote a few days ago about the Poles refusing to yield to EU demands and give in to a new treaty that would replace the failed EU constitution. Their concern is that the voting method to enact rule changes is badly skewed toward the big countries, France and Germany. The are still refusing to back down and could well scuttle the treaty outright.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel formally invited her fellow EU leaders to the Brussels summit opening Thursday, with the message that "only together will we succeed in resolving the issues before us."
"The European public now expects us to put the necessary reforms of the union in hand. Following our consultations over the last few months the time has now come to set out the roadmap for the impending reform of the treaties," she added.
However the Polish position remains "unchanged, we have not seen any accommodation," a spokesman for the German EU presidency said in Berlin.
Poland strongly objects to the voting system proposed by Germany which will be discussed at the summit, aimed at working out the broad lines of a new treaty to replace the constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
Warsaw believes "double majority" voting, under which agreement by 55 percent of member states representing 65 percent of the EU population would be required for new rules, would favour big states like Germany.
EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso held an hour-long telephone conversation with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski Wednesday seeking a compromise.
"The veto remains highly likely," Kaczynski told Polish public television, adding that it would be "suicide" to give in.
Both the prime minister and his identical twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, have claimed Poland is "willing to die" to defend its corner.
Poland favors using the square root of the population to determine voting weights for each country (which is surprisingly good at leveling the field). While Britain remains formally opposed at this point, there is some indication that Tony Blair might be willing to make a deal (which the British papers are up in arms about, mind you.) But little Poland is hanging tough against Germany. Entertaining, isn't it?
World news | Gaius Wednesday, 20 June , 2007
By Anthony Ragan, Wednesday, 20 June , 2007 @ 7:09 pm
Go Poland. The EU constitution is a terrible mess of a document.
By Chris, Thursday, 21 June , 2007 @ 6:09 am
At least this time they’re not reduced to flinging cavalry against tanks.