(BRUSSELS) - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Monday hailed "the European spirit of the Polish people," following the victory of the pro-EU liberals in weekend elections.

With nearly all of the ballots counted, opposition leader Donald Tusk's Civic Platform had routed the conservative Law and Justice party of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

"I pay tribute to the democratic process in Poland. I congratulate Mr Donald Tusk on his electoral success," Barroso said in a statement.

"I would like to emphasize the importance of Poland's contribution to the European Union and the European spirit of the Polish people," he added.

While Lech Kaczynski still has three years to go in his presidential term, the poll abruptly ended the twin Kaczynski brothers' unusual concentration of power and was likely to be met with sighs of relief in many European capitals.

Barroso said he was confident "that there will be a fruitful cooperation with the next Polish government."

The head of the EU's executive arm made no public comment on the outgoing government of Jaroslaw Kaczynski, which gained a reputation as a difficult customer in Brussels and elsewhere, not least during the talks to agree on a new EU reform treaty to replace the failed constitution.

During those talks, which ended with an agreement at an EU summit in Lisbon last week, Warsaw was granted concessions to avert the possibility of a Polish veto.

The pro-business Civic Platform (PO) party was leading on 41.64 percent of the vote with 90 percent of the ballots in Poland's snap general election counted, Poland's electoral commission said Monday.

The participation rate of 53.83 percent of Poland's 30.5 million voters was the highest since the communist regime was ousted in 1989.

The Civic Platform had accused the often combative Kaczynskis of damaging Poland's image by straining ties with Germany and the rest of the European Union, notably over their fierce defence of national interests in the bloc's reform process.

The 58-year-old brothers have also clashed with NATO leaders as well as neighbouring Russia, most recently over their strong support for US plans to base part of an missile shield system in Poland.

A top PO official announced Sunday that the new government would adopt the EU charter of fundamental rights, which the conservatives bitterly opposed.

"It will be a modernising government, and very actively involved in the EU. So it will change Poland's stance on the treaty and thus will adhere to the charter of fundamental rights," Jacek Saryusz-Wolski, president of the European Parliament's foreign policy committee and PO's main spokesman on EU issues, told AFP.

At their Lisbon summit, the Polish delegation led by Lech Kaczynski rejected the charter, notably its liberal stand on gay rights.

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