Brussels, 12/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Meetings are increasing between European leaders in an attempt to obtain a swift agreement on the European treaty and convince Poland not to block things. The president of the Italian Council, Romano Prodi, the Lithuanian president, Valdas Adamkus and the Hungarian prime minister, Ferenc Gyurcsany met Angela Merkel on Monday and informed the Chancellor that they shared her goals. Despite the differences that still exist with Warsaw and other countries, these three countries have already ratified the initial draft Constitutional Treaty and believe that a positive result can still be achieved.
Before their meeting Mr Prodi declared: “We are close to the goal of finding a common synthesis to the next European framework”. Following the same line, Mr Adamkus said that “this will mean a better compromise and not one on the cheap”. He also pointed out that “we have decided that it was extremely important to preserve the substance and content of the Constitutional Treaty…the constitution should not simply be a series of technical points because the term 'constitution' supposes a vision of the future”.
In the final talks before the summit on 21-22 June (where the German Chancellor wants to reach an agreement on the main lines of the future text, as well as on as short a timetable as possible), looks are turned towards Warsaw, which wants more time. On a visit to Austria, the Polish prime minister, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, explained on Monday that they would need “around a year” to best settle the questions that he holds dear, particularly revision of the voting system at the Council of the EU. This position clashes with the position of most other countries, which will all attempt to dissuade Poland resorting to the veto, which Mr Kaczynski has threatened to use.
“We have the right to use it (Ed: the veto) and we will do it if we believe it is our country's or Europe's interest” explained Mr Kaczynski at the end of his meeting with the Austrian Chancellor. In an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde on 13 June, the Polish prime minister repeated his hard-line but is leaving the door open to discussions. He declared: “Accepting the voting system as included in the current Constitutional Treaty, and therefore being relegated to the worst situation in the whole of Europe, would be capitulation”. He also said: “We are capable of compromise…there is a difference between being disposed to making a compromise and accepting anything”. However, he did say that the decision making system proposed by Poland is “already a compromise because it is not as good as the one they had today” (Ed: provisions in the Treaty of Nice). After Prodi last week, the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy (on Thursday) and the Spanish prime minister, José Luis Zapatero, are expected to appeal for greater flexibility from Warsaw, just as Ms Merkel will do in her meeting on Saturday with one of the Kaczynski brothers.
On Tuesday, the Commission responded with a repeated call from its president, José Manuel Barroso, for an urgent solution, to be implemented by spring 2009. A spokesperson informed the press: “We have a window of opportunity” and now is the moment to act and obtain “solid results” at the European Council, as well as “very swift progress under the Portuguese presidency”. In an interview to the International Herald Tribune on 12 June, Mr Barroso said that if they wanted an agreement at the summit, the text should not include EU symbols such as the European flag and anthem. He explained that being unable to implement institutional reforms would be “a real threat to the credibility of the EU”, adding, “people ask how can we address the biggest issues - like climate change - when you can't even decide how to work together”. The Commission president is urging London and Warsaw to compromise, but recognises that the granting of derogations could be the only way of getting an agreement. He declared: “As a rule, to have opt-outs is not good, but if it is the solution, I will not be against it” (particularly in relation to the provisions on extending the vote to qualified majority voting in areas like police and legal cooperation). In Warsaw Mr Barroso pointed out that “Poland has called for solidarity from the rest of the EU (regarding the Russian embargo on its meat), but solidarity is a two-way avenue”. (ab)