Poles warn of treaty risk over IGC rights

Date: 27/02/03

By Dana Spinant

EU ACCESSION states have stepped up pressure to be granted full involvement in the adoption of the constitution - currently being drafted by the Convention on Europe's future.

In a letter sent to the Greek government, the Polish foreign minister issues a warning that it would be difficult to convince his countrymen to ratify the accession treaty if Poland does not enjoy "full participation" in the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) that will adopt the draft constitutional treaty.

Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz urges the EU to find a way of ensuring that ten future member states participate in the IGC on an equal footing with the present 15 members.

What's more, he wants a legal guarantee, not merely a political promise.

The demands are likely to spark controversy in the Union, as a majority of member states want the IGC to be concluded in time for the new treaty to be signed in May 2004.

The Polish demand may mean that the conference will have to start - or at the very least end - after the new members join the EU on 1 May next year.

Diplomats in Brussels believe the future members have been "encouraged by some EU states, in particular the UK, to press ahead with this request".

They say that London, whose representatives on the Valéry Giscard d'Estaing-led Convention have often been isolated by the more federalist French and Germans, is looking for allies among the newcomers.

The EU heads of state and government promised full membership of the IGC for future members at the Copenhagen summit last December.

However, according to Article 48 of the current treaty, only member states' government representatives can attend an IGC.

Cimoszewicz is therefore urging the Greek presidency to find a legally-binding solution to ensure that the ten candidate countries will have full rights during the conference.

This will include the right to block the adoption of the treaty.

Two possible solutions are being put forward by the candidates.

The Poles hold the view that the IGC should only get under way after they join the Union.

This would, however, delay the adoption of the constitutional treaty, which the EU government leaders said they wanted to sign in May 2004.

Italy would be particularly irked by this delay as Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister, wants to have the constitution adopted under the Italian presidency, before the end of 2003.

The second proposal, aired by Baltic countries' diplomats, says that the IGC should only end after May 2004.

This would allow the new countries to participate in the final stages of the treaty's negotiation - by then as full EU member states.

Diplomats in Brussels believe these moves represent an attempt to reopen a debate which had been formally closed at the Copenhagen summit.

The Polish minister, however, begs to differ and adds that a political promise is not enough.

"The issue that therefore remains to be clarified concerns the legal reflection of the Copenhagen European Council decision," the letter says.

"It would be impossible to envisage the adoption of the constitutional treaty which is to set the terms of further integration for years to come without the full participation of the future new member states in the decision-making process," it adds.

The Greek foreign minister George Papandreou is set to consult with his member state counterparts before replying to the letter.

EU accession states have stepped up pressure to be granted full involvement in the adoption of the constitution currently being drafted by the Convention on Europe's future.