Poland raises new objections as EU launches reform conference

(BRUSSELS) - Poland raised fresh objections Monday to a major European Union package of reforms meant to replace the bloc's failed constitution and end two years of political turmoil.

At a meeting to launch a key conference on finalising the EU's new reform treaty, Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga told her colleagues that Poland was considering opting out of the bloc's Charter of Fundamental Rights.

"The Poles are now tempted to join the British in their opt-out on the charter," said European lawmaker Andrew Duff, a constitutional expert who took part in the talks.

Poland was expected to raise the issue of voting rights spread between the EU's 27 countries as a problem, but this did not happen and the charter issue cast a new cloud over the reform package.

"That's the political spillover we were hoping to avoid," said Duff.

"They are still looking to destroy the charter, practically speaking," he said. "If this infection spreads that will mean the end of the charter."

Under a deal thrashed out by EU leaders last month the treaty would note that "nothing" in the Charter of Fundamental Rights -- the range of rights enjoyed by EU citizens and residents -- "creates justifiable rights applicable to the United Kingdom."

Britain had feared the charter would enshrine a worker's right to strike.

Poland does not want the text to be legally binding.

Luxembourg's European Affairs Minister Nicolas Schmit regretted that Poland might follow Britain's lead, but noted that "it would be difficult to refuse something for Poland that we have already accepted for the United Kingdom."

Before the talks, Fotyga raised doubts over how tough a line Warsaw would take, but did not elaborate on what issues she would raise.

"We would like naturally to give Polish reflections on all our understandings," she said. "There are several issues many countries have and we would like to clarify them."

Poland was the biggest of 10 mainly ex-communist countries to join the EU in 2004 and it has tended to use its political weight, notably to get its way on its share of the bloc's long-term budget.

Despite Poland's stance, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado, whose country holds the current EU presidency, expressed confidence that Warsaw's objections could be overcome.

"She made a very positive and constructive intervention and the issues she raised will be dealt with by us at the technical level from tomorrow," he told reporters after the opening ceremony.

"It is vital that the Union should not allow itself to be paralysed once again on account of internal, institutional problems, so that it may respond to the real challenges that it must face," he said.

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso noted even Poland had agreed that the mandate handed down by EU leaders to draw up the treaty was the right one.

"There are certainly some details that need to be addressed, but there is full respect for the mandate," he said.

The real treaty drafting work starts from Tuesday among legal experts.

European Parliament President Hans-Gert Poettering warned EU member countries to stick to the legal and technical work at hand and not try to open up major parts of the agreement.

"There can be no renegotiation or any opening of the negotiating mandate," he said in a statement.

"The compromise reached in June facilitates the necessary reforms for a more democratic Union with a greater capacity to act. Each party must now respect the commitments entered into."

EU leaders have pledged to ratify the new treaty by 2009 so that public confidence in the European project is not undermined by the problem during elections to the European Parliament that year.

It will simplify the way the expanding EU operates, establish a new foreign policy supremo and a more permanent president.