EU leaders celebrate hard-fought reform treaty deal
Sunday, 24 June 2007
BRUSSELS, Jun 23 (AFP): European Union leaders Saturday agreed a blueprint for a reform treaty after striking a compromise with Poland in tense all-night talks at a crucial summit.
At a pre-dawn press conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed a "good compromise" over the voting system in the proposed treaty, the issue which had prompted Poland to threaten to block a deal.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also left his final EU summit having secured valuable concessions on the treaty that he hopes will get it accepted by British lawmakers.
Merkel said the agreement would give a bloc which has enlarged from 15 member states to 27 since 2004 the ability to act effectively.
"We have a detailed and clear mandate for an inter-governmental conference" which will draft the full treaty, she said.
The conference will thrash out the full reforms which Merkel hopes will be tied up by the end of the year. The aim is to have the treaty ratified by all states ahead of the next European parliamentary elections in 2009.
The new treaty will replace the Union's failed constitution, which was torpedoed by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
"I was sure that if we had not achieved this today we would have ended up in a rather disastrous situation as many would have thought they had been pushed too far," said Merkel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency till the end of the month.
"We have managed to organise things so that no one can go home and feel they have been put in the corner," she said.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski thanked France and Britain for their "solidarity" in helping to broker a deal.
British Prime Minister Blair, who leaves office next week, and newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy both sought to persuade the Polish president and his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to drop their opposition.
The Kaczynskis had shocked European diplomats ahead of the summit by evoking their country's mass destruction at the hands of the Nazis in World War II as an argument for it to get its way on the voting issue.
Spelling out the compromise, Merkel said the double majority voting system -- which Poland strongly opposed because it fears it will give big countries too much decision-making power -- would not be introduced until 2014 and would then be phased in over the next three years.
EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said the deal was vital.
"If we could not get it today that would be a real problem for Europe," he told the post-deal press conference.
"I think now we have made a great step forward."
Barroso, producing a bunch of flowers, said Merkel had achieved "a success that most people thought unthinkable just some months ago, some even just some days ago."
"I also want to thank her for all that she has done for Europe."
Sarkozy acknowledged the talks had come close to failure, but hailed the deal as "very good news for Europe."
In a reference to Poland, the French president said: "It was not possible to ignore the biggest country in eastern Europe."
Blair said the accord was a "chance to move on" after the "bind" which the EU had got itself into with the doomed constitutional treaty.
"The most important thing is that it allows us to move on to things that are ultimately far more important," he told reporters.
"It gives us a chance to concentrate on the issues to do with the economy, organis crime, terrorism, immigration, defence, climate change, the environment, energy, the problems that really concern the citizens of Europe."
Blair largely succeeded in sticking to the four "red line" conditions he set for agreement on the new treaty -- that Britain would not cede control over foreign policy, its judicial and police system, tax and social security rules, and an EU charter of fundamental rights.
At a pre-dawn press conference, German Chancellor Angela Merkel hailed a "good compromise" over the voting system in the proposed treaty, the issue which had prompted Poland to threaten to block a deal.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also left his final EU summit having secured valuable concessions on the treaty that he hopes will get it accepted by British lawmakers.
Merkel said the agreement would give a bloc which has enlarged from 15 member states to 27 since 2004 the ability to act effectively.
"We have a detailed and clear mandate for an inter-governmental conference" which will draft the full treaty, she said.
The conference will thrash out the full reforms which Merkel hopes will be tied up by the end of the year. The aim is to have the treaty ratified by all states ahead of the next European parliamentary elections in 2009.
The new treaty will replace the Union's failed constitution, which was torpedoed by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.
"I was sure that if we had not achieved this today we would have ended up in a rather disastrous situation as many would have thought they had been pushed too far," said Merkel, whose country holds the EU's rotating presidency till the end of the month.
"We have managed to organise things so that no one can go home and feel they have been put in the corner," she said.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski thanked France and Britain for their "solidarity" in helping to broker a deal.
British Prime Minister Blair, who leaves office next week, and newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy both sought to persuade the Polish president and his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, to drop their opposition.
The Kaczynskis had shocked European diplomats ahead of the summit by evoking their country's mass destruction at the hands of the Nazis in World War II as an argument for it to get its way on the voting issue.
Spelling out the compromise, Merkel said the double majority voting system -- which Poland strongly opposed because it fears it will give big countries too much decision-making power -- would not be introduced until 2014 and would then be phased in over the next three years.
EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso said the deal was vital.
"If we could not get it today that would be a real problem for Europe," he told the post-deal press conference.
"I think now we have made a great step forward."
Barroso, producing a bunch of flowers, said Merkel had achieved "a success that most people thought unthinkable just some months ago, some even just some days ago."
"I also want to thank her for all that she has done for Europe."
Sarkozy acknowledged the talks had come close to failure, but hailed the deal as "very good news for Europe."
In a reference to Poland, the French president said: "It was not possible to ignore the biggest country in eastern Europe."
Blair said the accord was a "chance to move on" after the "bind" which the EU had got itself into with the doomed constitutional treaty.
"The most important thing is that it allows us to move on to things that are ultimately far more important," he told reporters.
"It gives us a chance to concentrate on the issues to do with the economy, organis crime, terrorism, immigration, defence, climate change, the environment, energy, the problems that really concern the citizens of Europe."
Blair largely succeeded in sticking to the four "red line" conditions he set for agreement on the new treaty -- that Britain would not cede control over foreign policy, its judicial and police system, tax and social security rules, and an EU charter of fundamental rights.