Poland Evokes War Dead As Eu Talks Get Tough

European leaders gathered last night in Brussels for a bruising battle over the future of Europe, with Britain pledging no surrender on key demands and Poland evoking losses in the second world war to push for more votes in the running of the EU.

Under the chairmanship of the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, the 27 EU countries launched an attempt to hammer out a consensus on a "reform treaty" to replace the defunct European constitution.

"This is going to be a very tough negotiation," said the prime minister, Tony Blair. "We have to have really significant change and we'll have to see that change."

Earlier, Downing Street said Mr Blair was ready to walk away from the summit and see it collapse if his four central demands were not met.

His so-called "red lines" are: no yielding of the British veto on home and criminal justice affairs; no supremacy of a European charter of fundamental rights over British labor and social laws; no supplanting of British foreign policy sovereignty by a proposed European foreign minister; and no interference from Brussels in Britain's social security system.

However, Chancellor Merkel views Poland rather than Britain as the main opponent of a deal and the hardest nut to crack. Such perceptions were confirmed when Warsaw raised old grievances about Germany to try to bolster its case for a "fairer" voting system in running the EU.

Under the nationalist Kaczynski brothers, prime minister and president of Poland, it seemed Poland was bent on refighting the second world war against Germany in the bunkers of Brussels. Had it not been for the Nazi occupation of Poland, said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the prime minister, Poland today would have a population almost double its 38 million and would warrant a much higher quota of votes in the EU. "If Poland had not had to live through the years 1939-45, Poland would be today looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million," he said.

The statement to Polish radio from Mr Kaczynski laid bare the strength of the anti-German emotion underpinning the Polish position.

Under current arrangements dating from 2000 Germany has 29 votes to Poland's 27 in EU councils. The new system is based on population sizes, and gives Germany more than double the Polish vote. The Poles are demanding a new way of calculating votes that would diminish German "hegemony".

Chancellor Merkel, leading the drive to salvage as much as possible from the rejected constitution, has much at stake. She has repeatedly warned that collapse would be a "historic failure".

She pledged she would play the honest broker, taking all countries' concerns into account. Mr Kaczynski again threatened to veto agreement at the summit yesterday. But he also appeared to leave himself room for a climbdown. Late last night Mrs Merkel said after the first round of negotiations that there were "still some open questions, and very complicated ones".

Mr Blair and Gordon Brown consulted Mrs Merkel by telephone yesterday before Mr Blair travelled to Brussels. The joint call was designed to underline that the outgoing prime minister is working in tandem with his successor and will not sign up to anything that Mr Brown cannot accept.

Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, appealed to Mr Blair to be "reasonable", but said he thought Britain would achieve most of its main aims. "I believe from what I've heard so far that Britain will meet most of its demands," he told the BBC.

According to No 10, that would not be enough. "There's no doubt where the PM is coming from," said a spokesman. "It's not pick'n'mix."

On the proposed European foreign minister, a post which is to be given another title as yet undecided, the government is looking for a tighter definition of the official's powers and is concerned that the EU could supplant Britain at the UN security council.

A blueprint for a new treaty was tabled by the Germans on Tuesday. British officials predicted large tracts of it would need to be comprehensively rewritten.

Most of the EU members, led by Germany, are keen to agree on a slimmed-down constitution to streamline the way the union is run and to develop more active and coherent foreign policies.


Profile: Lech and Jaroslaw Kaczynski


President Lech Kaczynski came to Brussels yesterday to voice Polish fears of German hegemony over Europe, supported by his twin brother Jaroslaw's ringing accusations about Germany's "incomprehensible crimes against Poland" - the murder of six million Poles, half of them Jews, by the Nazis. The Kaczynski twins, Lech and prime minister Jaroslaw, view Berlin as a threat to Polish sovereignty, and are convinced that Chancellor Angela Merkel has abused her role as EU president to push the German national interest. The brothers were reared on tales of Polish heroism and martyrdom fighting the Nazis from their father, who fought in the Warsaw uprising. When he was mayor of Warsaw, Lech built Poland's first museum to the uprising. While the Kaczynskis' tactics are criticized abroad as abrasive and isolationist, the fundamental anti-German Polish position enjoys cross-party and broad public support at home.


Ian Traynor