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Post by Jaga on Jun 22, 2007 22:15:31 GMT -7
I am glad that finally Polish president compromised:June 23 (Bloomberg) -- Poland bowed to an overhaul of the European Union's decision-making system in a late concession at a tension-filled summit that reopened cracks between Europe's east and west and rich and poor. Outnumbered 26 to 1 at the marathon summit in Brussels, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said he would back a shift in the EU's policymaking system that he had criticized for handing too much power to larger countries such as Germany. ``It was often difficult, even in the small details, because everyone's will to compromise was stretched to the limit,'' German Chancellor Angela Merkel told a press conference early today after chairing the meeting. The near-collapse of the summit reawakened concern that the EU, with a half-century-old institutional setup that allows solitary countries to block sensitive decisions, is failing to come together to project its influence on the world stage. ``We have a crisis of different ideologies,'' Jo Leinen, a member of the European Parliament, told reporters. ``With 27 members the time is over that one member can stop everyone else.'' EU leaders set an end-of-year deadline to negotiate a new governing treaty so it can be ratified in time for the European Parliament elections in 2009. Those talks won't be ``a pure formality,'' Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa said. ``This won't be a very easy job.'' www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aVR9sTyFaFLM&refer=home
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Post by Jaga on Jun 22, 2007 22:16:44 GMT -7
another report:
European Union leaders clinched agreement on Saturday on a detailed mandate for a new treaty to overhaul the 27-nation bloc after persuading Poland to end a stand-off that nearly torpedoed their summit.
The leaders endorsed a negotiating mandate and the convening of an Inter-Governmental Conference for a reform treaty to replace the EU constitution rejected in 2005 by French and Dutch voters.
The deal, reached at 4:30 a.m. (10:30 p.m. EDT) after a marathon wrangle, could relaunch the political integration of Europe after two years of gloom and introspection.
"I will give you a good piece of news. We have just come to an agreement on a very precise mandate ... for a simplified treaty," French President Nicolas Sarkozy told journalists.
Leaders of several countries, including Sarkozy, convinced Polish President Lech Kaczynski to accept a compromise on changes to the bloc's voting rights in a new treaty in exchange for a long delay in their introduction.
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Post by leslie on Jun 23, 2007 2:41:17 GMT -7
Another European Union is likely to come about I feel - the United Europe of Poland if Gemini carry on as they are.
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