Poland urged to drop threat to veto EU treaty

Poland will 'push Europe into crisis' if it follows through with its threat to veto agreement on a revived constitution at next week’s EU summit.

That was the warning today from parliament president Hans-Gert Poettering, who appealed to Warsaw to drop its objection to the proposed system of voting.

Poland has complained that the qualified majority voting system outlined in the new-look draft treaty put forward by Berlin would favour Germany at the expense of countries like Poland and Spain.

But,speaking at a news conference at parliament, Poettering warned that Warsaw will be inflicting “great damage” on itself if it torpedoes the treaty.

He said the proposed voting system was “fair and democratic” and described the Polish veto threat as “very regrettable”.

“I have some sympathy with Poland and every country has the right to an input on the debate. But you cannot be against everything and I would ask our Polish friends to compromise on this in order not to stall the process further,” he said.

Former Italian interior minister Giuliano Amato, one of the architects of the stalled constitution, insisted that it would be possible to salvage the main elements of the treaty rejected in 2005 by voters in France and the Netherlands.

“This time we must put before our citizens something which is comprehensible and clear. I believe it is possible to have a document containing, say, 70 articles and 12,000 words and one which is easy to understand," he said.

“However, I realise that some people hold very different views to me on this and do not think Europe needs a constitution at all. Therefore, we have got to make the reforms I believe Europe needs acceptable and, as our British friends would say, show that they can deliver.”

Both Poettering and Amato, deputy chair of the European convention which drafted the original treaty, are participating today and tomorrow in a 'future of Europe' conference in parliament between parliament and the German Bundestag.

Amato said if the two assemblies can reach agreement on the way out of the current treaty impasse, this would be a “good omen” for Europe’s future.

Another keynote speaker, Norbert Lammert, president of the Bundestag, called on next week’s summit to ensure that the “substance” of the treaty is retained.

“I realise there are problems of ratification and what have you but I do not believe we should be taking a backward step at this stage,” he said.

• Previous article
• Next article