Brussels, 11/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The Polish prime minister, Jaroslav Kaczynski, has dashed hopes for a swift agreement on the new EU treaty, namely, before the end of the year, by affirming on Monday that negotiations at the intergovernmental conference (IGC) were expected to last “around a year” in order to leave sufficient time to discuss subjects such as the revision of the voting system at the Council of Ministers (Warsaw is opposed to double majority voting as included in the Constitutional Treaty). During a joint press conference with the Austrian Chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, in Warsaw, the head of the Polish government affirmed: “We don't believe that important questions on the future of Europe can be settled in just a few days”. Kaczynski explained that they would need “around a year of discussions” at the IGC. The German presidency and most member states want, on the other hand, to go faster. According to the latter, the European Council on 21-22 June should reach an agreement on the main lines of the treaty, and approve an exact mandate and tight timetable for a short IGC to open and be concluded under the Portuguese presidency before the end of 2007. Gusenbauer supports the German presidency's approach and, addressing the press in Warsaw, contradicted his Polish counterpart: “I do not want three or four years in Europe being spent on other discussions on the treaty”. He also spoke out against the Polish demand for amendments to double majority voting, explaining “a result cannot be obtained when these questions are opened up again”.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel began a diplomatic marathon on Monday in preparation for the European summit: on Monday, she received Romano Prodi (Italy), Ferenc Gyurcsany (Hungary) and Valdas Adamkus (Lithuania); on Friday she will be meeting Jan Peter Balkanende (Netherlands), José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and one of the two Kaczynski brothers (Poland) on Saturday and Mirek Topolanek (Czech Republic) on Sunday. (hb)