Polish premier warns he will not sign EU pact as stands

(BRUSSELS) - Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned Monday that he will not sign a pact for fiscal discipline he says lacks ambition or courage, unless Warsaw gets a say in key eurozone decision-making.

"We will not accept it in its present form," Tusk said of the treaty that was to be agreed by 26 of the 27 European Union states minus Britain.

Tusk spoke after talks with European Parliament president Martin Schulz, who also wants more say, hours from the opening of an EU summit in Brussels.

"Poland is ready to take co-responsibility for this fiscal compact under one condition," Tusk added, "that the country will participate in the decision-making process on how the treaty is implemented."

The pact, the aim of which is to avoid a repeat of the eurozone debt crisis, is expected to be agreed in principle on Monday before formal acceptance at an EU summit on March 1 and 2.

Eurozone versus full EU talks are a sensitive topic for some governments, notably France, which refuses to grant access to the 10 non-eurozone EU member states more than once a year.