Sunday June 10, 10:09 AM    
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Germany eyes deal on new EU treaty *

With a June 21-22 EU summit looming, the bloc's German presidency is
confident of brokering a deal for a new EU treaty despite Polish veto
threats.

As the clock ticks ahead of the meeting in Brussels, Germany is racing
to narrow differences among the EU's 27 member states over what should
be included in a new treaty to replace the bloc's rejected draft
constitution.

"There is a real chance that we will reach an agreement" at the meeting,
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told members of the
European Parliament on Thursday.

"We have around two weeks until the European Council (summit) and we are
going to use this time to try to convince those who are still opposed to
some of the proposals we have made," he said.

Germany, which holds the EU's six-month rotating presidency until the
end of June, wants to unveil a plan at the summit on the outline of a
new treaty and how to ratify it before the next European Parliament
elections in 2009.

Problem areas would be ironed out at an intergovernmental conference,
possibly starting in July.

The treaty would contain the most useful, and acceptable, parts of the
draft constitution, which was rejected by voters in France and the
Netherlands two years ago, sparking the EU's worst-ever crisis.

The constitution was meant to simplify decision-making in the 27-country
bloc as it expands, put in place a longer-term president and create a
post of foreign minister, among other reforms.

With behind-the-scenes negotiations in their final stage, Britain, the
Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Poland are shaping up as the most
difficult countries to convince.

However, Berlin, which wants to retain most of the ill-fated
constitution, has scored some successes lately with other key members in
part due to support from France's hyperactive new president, Nicolas
Sarkozy, who has been holding numerous meetings with other European leaders.

Sarkozy says that his idea of a new, "simplified" treaty has won support
from leaders of some countries that ratified the original constitution,
including Italy's Romano Prodi, Spain's Jose Luis Zapatero and
Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker.

He has even claimed making "progress" in winning over Britain's outgoing
Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is in favour of a stripped-down treaty a
far cry from what Berlin is seeking.

Steinmeier was hopeful of reaching an agreement even on key contentious
issues such as including a charter of fundamental rights, which is
deeply opposed by Britain, or the role of national parliaments, a Dutch
hobby-horse.

However, he was mum about Poland, whose Prime Minister Jaroslaw
Kaczynski said only last Tuesday that he was "ready to die" to get a
change in EU's qualified majority voting system, hinting of using a veto
at the summit.

Warsaw says that the voting system in the original constitution leaned
too far in favour of bigger countries such as Germany, which has ruled
out reopening the thorny voting debate.

But Poland can count on support from the Czech Republic whose vice prime
minister Alexandr Vondra said Thursday: "We want a Union of equality
where members enjoy equal rights irrespective of size or length of their
membership."

Poland's demand for greater say is likely to be the main bone of
contention at the summit especially because Poland under the leadership
of the Kaczynski twins has proven to be unpredictable in the EU.

"They can block everything just like they can decide to behave
themselves like good Europeans," said Polish EU lawmaker Bronislaw Geremek.