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Bloomberg, 21st June 2007EU Fights Over Treaty, Seeks to End Two-Year Gridlock By James G. Neuger
Link to article: June 21 (Bloomberg) -- European Union leaders opened the battle over a new governing treaty, seeking to make institutions designed for six countries a half-century ago fit for the modern bloc of 27. Objections by Poland to a shift in the decision-making system and by Britain to an extension of the EU's powers loom as the biggest obstacles to ending a two-year stalemate at a summit in Brussels. The summit's chairwoman, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, is trying to line up all the governments behind a scaled-back treaty to replace the constitution that was shot down by French and Dutch voters in 2005. ``It will be tough, long and difficult but a deal is possible,'' European Commission President Jose Barroso told reporters today. ``If we don't get a deal, we will all be losers. The EU's credibility will be affected.'' The EU has continued to take decisions since the demise of the constitution, in areas ranging from a trans-Atlantic air travel deal and new regulations on mobile-phone fees to this year's admission of Romania and Bulgaria as members. Still, leaders argue that the EU needs to streamline its policymaking machinery to cope with issues such as climate change, globalization and migration that no country can solve on its own. New Posts Most leaders want to keep the basic elements of the aborted constitution, which would create the posts of EU president and foreign minister, simplify the system for passing EU-wide laws, establish a charter of fundamental rights, and widen the union's powers over crime and immigration. Merkel, 52, told reporters in Brussels today that she will push for ``a fair agreement because the European Union has to be able to act to solve the many problems that we have in the world.'' The goal at the summit, which starts at 5:30 p.m. today and may run into the weekend, is to draft a ``road map'' for finalizing the treaty text by December. Poland has waged a lone struggle against the proposed vote- counting method, under which laws would pass when backed by at least 55 percent of the governments representing at least 65 percent of the EU's population. The ``double majority'' system would tilt power to larger countries such as Germany. Poland's counter-proposal would narrow the gap in voting strength by assigning votes based on the square root of each country's population. Germany, with 82.4 million people, would get nine votes under that formula, and Poland, with 38.5 million, would get six. `Square Root or Death' The Polish government appeared to back away from the ``square root or death'' rallying cry yesterday, when Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Germany's Bild newspaper: ``For the moment, all we want is that a debate about the voting system is allowed to take place.'' Veto threats by Kaczynski, 58, and his twin brother Lech, the Polish president, have stirred up the animosities and resentments that have lingered between eastern and western Europe since the EU expanded beyond the former Iron Curtain in 2004. The richer western countries that control the EU's purse- strings may seek to punish a veto by cutting back on financial aid for Poland, Barroso, 51, warned this week. Poland got 3.2 billion euros ($4.3 billion) more out of the EU than it paid in during its first two years of membership. Germany, the bloc's chief financier, put up a net 13.1 billion euros over the same period. Escaping Referendums While Poland has taken the most heat, it isn't alone in balking at parts of a new-look constitution. France and the Netherlands are demanding a scaled-down treaty that can be ratified by Parliament in order to escape a second popular vote. The word ``constitution'' itself has fallen by the wayside. Germany wants to call the new rulebook a ``Reform Treaty,'' and to give the proposed foreign minister a different title, to quiet concerns about the EU intruding on national powers. Also taboo are references to symbols like the flag and anthem that galvanized opponents in the 2005 referendums. In practice, the bloc will keep flying the 12-star banner and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will remain the official hymn. Workers' Rights Britain, where polls show any EU treaty would lose a referendum, is equally adamant on preventing the EU from overriding national laws on crime, immigration and the right of employees to go on strike. U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair argues that the creation of new workers' rights would undermine an economy that has grown faster than the EU average for four of the past five years. Blair is ``prepared to walk away from a deal'' unless all U.K. demands are met, Downing Street spokesman Tom Kelly told reporters today. Blair, 54, who started his first term in 1997 promising to put Britain ``at the heart of Europe,'' thus leaves office next week fighting a rearguard action to stall the spread of European bureaucracy and combat growing EU-skepticism at home. The need for unanimous ratification of any treaty gives leverage to what Ruth Lea, director of Global Vision, a U.K. research group, called the ``awkward squad'' of EU critics. That would force the 18 countries that ratified the original constitution to accept a less ambitious version. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker said today there is a ``50-50'' chance of agreement on a treaty at the summit. To contact the reporter on this story: James G. Neuger in Brussels at jneuger@bloomberg.net . |
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