No treaty, no enlargement, warns Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a stark warning to EU governments including the UK, Poland and the Czech Republic that they must agree new treaty reforms if they want the Union to take in new members.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 17 January, Merkel said that the UK was "still interested in giving new members the chance [to join] the EU". Referring to further EU enlargement to take in countries from the western Balkans, she said: "It can’t be done on the basis of this [the Nice] treaty."

EU diplomats said that her message was aimed at the UK, Poland and the Czech Republic. They are the strongest supporters of expanding the EU but are expected to be the most difficult in re-negotiating the constitution.

Merkel was asked how she could reconcile her plans to retain as much of the substance of the EU constitution as possible with messages from the UK that any revised text had to be minimalist to avoid the need for a referendum. "I have not heard any ultimatum," she said, adding that she was not interested in adopting a new version of the constitution which would be rejected.

The UK has told Merkel that any re-negotiation of the constitution must produce a minimal set of technical institutional reforms rather than ambitious political proposals on new powers for the EU.

Geoff Hoon, the UK’s Europe minister, said in December that if institutional reforms involved "detailed processes" of EU decision-making there was no precedent for them having to be agreed by referendum.

The Germany government is part of a majority of EU governments which want to preserve as much as possible of the constitution. They fear that a deal could be blocked by the UK if the government is pressured by the opposition Conservative Party into holding a referendum. There are also fears that the Eurosceptic governments in Poland and the Czech Republic could block agreement.

In a sign of the growing pressure from the majority of member states which have already approved the constitution, Merkel referred to the 18 countries that had ratified the text and the others which would have approved it had there not been the "negative consequences" of the French and Dutch ‘No’ votes.

Next Friday (26 January), the 18 countries which have ratified the constitution will meet in Madrid to discuss how to drum up support for the agreed text.

Merkel will also launch a six-month programme to revive the constitution with a series of meetings of government leaders’ top diplomatic advisers. Merkel’s EU affairs adviser Uwe Corsepius will start meeting his diplomatic counterparts in Berlin to discuss the declaration marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which founded what is now the European Union. The declaration will be adopted by government leaders at a special summit in Berlin on 24-25 March. Agreement on the declaration will be an important step on the way towards re-negotiating the constitution under the Portuguese presidency in the second half of 2007. The ‘sherpas’ preparing that summit will be working on options for the re-negotiation. Merkel said that the meetings would be "confidential consultations" which identify where the difficulties lie.

Poland’s sherpa, Marek Cichocki, told journalists that there was no hurry to agree a new text.

European Commission President José Manuel Barroso suggested five themes for the Berlin declaration: solidarity, sustainability, accountability, security and promoting Europe’s values in the world. He said that the declaration should stress greater social cohesion in an enlarged and open Europe, as well as the need to fight climate change. The declaration should also guarantee security of the EU’s citizens while preserving freedoms, said Barroso, adding that EU institutions should have an obligation to work transparently.

Merkel said she backed Barroso on these points.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has issued a stark warning to EU governments including the UK, Poland and the Czech Republic that they must agree new treaty reforms if they want the Union to take in new members.