Jun 21, 2007, 12:34 GMT
Brussels - European Union leaders were opening make-or-break talks Thursday amid acrimonious bickering over key elements of a new treaty replacing a draft constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
The two-day summit chaired by German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been preceded by tense exchanges between EU leaders over the contents of the new treaty, with Poland and Britain threatening to veto any deal which runs against their national interests.
Merkel has presented leaders with a draft text outlining key elements to be included in a new document which is now called a 'reform' or amended treaty rather than a constitution.
The treaty text makes no reference to EU symbols such as a European flag, anthem and 'Europe Day' to avoid giving the impression leaders are working to create a European super state.
But standing in the way of an EU summit deal is Poland with its demands for an overhaul of EU voting rights, a move opposed by 25 EU states, with only the Czech Republic voicing support.
Warsaw is demanding fresh EU talks on voting procedures in order to increase its weight in the bloc's decision-making, especially compared to larger countries such as Germany.
As such, it is opposed to the 'double majority' system agreed in 2004 which requires that EU decisions have the support of 55 per cent of member states, representing 65 per cent of the population.
Instead, Warsaw wants a voting system based on the square root of each country's population which it argues will give more say to medium-sized EU nations.
Britain is also fiercely opposed to plans to appoint an EU foreign minister and to demands for a legally-binding charter of fundamental rights.
The Netherlands wants the new treaty to toughen EU membership criteria and is demanding greaters powers for national parliaments.
German EU presidency sources say Merkel will allow Polish President Lech Kaczynski to raise the voting rights issue at the summit.
But they warned the Polish demands will not be part of the inter- governmental conference expected to be launched in autumn to finalize details of the new treaty.
Accepting Polish demands, they say, would trigger an unravelling of institutional arrangements, with other countries making similar calls for change.
Sources said a summit draft statement hammered out by Berlin makes some concessions designed to win British support, including eliminating a reference to an EU foreign minister and giving countries the right to opt out of deeper co-operation on home affairs issues.
But the draft still includes plans to make the human rights charter legally binding, although it will make clear that this will not mean interference in national legislative procedures.
If EU leaders do strike a deal, negotiations on details of the new treaty are expected to be completed by the end of the year, allowing it to be ratified and enter into force by summer 2009, coinciding with elections to the European Parliament.
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