Polen eist handhaving stemmenweging Nice (en) - Hoofdinhoud

EUOBSERVER / ROME - Spain and Poland stood alone today (4 October) in their defence of the complicated but, for them, beneficial voting weights of the Nice Treaty at the opening of talks on a new draft treaty.

Both Madrid and Warsaw made it clear that they are going to continue the fight for the 27 votes in the EU Council as set in the Nice Treaty - this number of votes means they play in the same arena as the large member states such as Germany and France.

The two argue that the European Convention, which drew up the Treaty, exceeded its mandate when setting rules for decision-making in the EU.

A temporary compromise

However, according to Polish media, the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz yesterday offered a compromise solution on Nice - very much contrary to the official position taken by the government.

Mr Cimoszewicz conceded that the terms of the Nice treaty "are not eternal" and indicated that Poland could agree to have a debate on the new voting weights in 2008 or 2009.

At the moment, however, 2009 is the date foreseen in the Treaty for when the new voting system should go into place.

Today, Mr Cimoszewicz denied the turn around. "Please put forward our messages precisely", he said to journalists.

He added that no proposal for compromise had yet been made.

"We are not going to breach the Nice Treaty and we are not going to offer any compromise solutions", Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller added.

Their Spanish colleague remained firm. When José Maria Aznar was asked if he already had an idea for a compromise on the Nice problem, he told the press conference that even if he had a compromise he would say what it was.