EU ministers battle to narrow down new Rome Treaty
Pastor Dale Morgan
Monday June 18, 5:21 AM
*EU ministers battle to narrow down new Rome Treaty*
European Union foreign ministers battled late Sunday to overcome major
obstacles to sorely-needed reforms so EU leaders can draw up the
outlines of a new Rome treaty this week.
"We want to try to reduce as best as possible the number of outstanding
questions so as to prepare the ground for the council (summit) on
Thursday," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said ahead of
the talks.
The ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, are struggling to narrow
differences on how votes are shared between the 27 EU countries and
limiting national vetoes on areas like justice.
Agreement on the treaty would bring an end to two years of political
uncertainty sparked by the failure of the EU's constitution and could
relaunch confidence in the European project.
Germany, which holds the EU rotating presidency until the end of the
month, has also urged its partners to think carefully about how the
Charter of Fundamental rights should be handled.
It also wants them to think about how far the bloc should go with
foreign policy, what role national parliaments should play in the EU and
indeed how many competences should be allotted to Brussels.
Few ministers spoke as they arrived for the late evening conclave but
those who did expressed cautious optimism for a result at the end of
what is shaping up as a long week.
"There is a general willingness on the part of everyone to find and to
reach a compromise," said Steinmeier. His Austrian counterpart, Ursula
Plassnik said: "There is a lot of political will."
"I'm certain we will find a solution this week," said Luxembourg Foreign
Minister Jean Asselborn.
But key problems remain unresolved with Poland, Britain, the Czech
Republic and the Netherlands the main thorns in the side of the German
presidency.
As ministers met, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, leading the charge
for a new Rome treaty, said Poland was sticking to its hardline stance
that changes be made to the EU's voting system.
"Fundamentally, the positions have not changed," said Merkel, a day
after talks with Polish President Lech Kaczynski.
Warsaw has threatened to veto the treaty talks because it believes it
will lose clout under a proposed new voting system.
Merkel said she would continue "intensive" talks with EU leaders this
week to try to make headway on the treaty to replace the constitution,
which was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands two
years ago.
"We will try everything, but a presidency cannot succeed alone if all
the other member states aren't ready to compromise," she told reporters
at a press conference with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.
Asselborn said he expected Warsaw to give ground.
"Poland is going to realise at the last moment that it is part of Europe
and that as part of Europe it is necessary to make concessions," he said.
Diplomatic sources said that a joint Spanish-French proposal had been
put to the meeting outlining 10 points which "should be in the treaty."
Among their agreed proposals were the creation of the posts of European
Union president and foreign minister and the extension of majority
voting at the expense of national vetoes.
The Netherlands has warned that it is waiting for a deal to be finalised
before it rules out another referendum on any new text. France will
endorse the treaty by parliament as, it appears, will Britain.
"We want to strengthen the role in national parliaments," said Dutch
Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen. "We have to take into account the wish
of the Dutch voters who said no to the EU constitution."
The EU leaders want to finalise the broad outlines of the treaty, which
they have pledged to try to implement by 2009, so that the issue does
not influence European Parliament elections that year.
Related Link:
The Treaty Of Rome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EC_Treaty