Roundup: EU foreign ministers unable to break impasse on new treaty

European Union (EU) foreign ministers were unable to break the impasse over a new treaty to replace the failed EU constitution, prompting the German foreign minister to warn on Monday that all member states will lose out if there is no deal.

The ministers held hours of talks Sunday night in preparation for Thursday and Friday's EU summit in Brussels. But they were unable to report any breakthrough.

"If there is no compromise, no agreement to be reached at the council (summit) later this week, everyone will have lost, the European Union and each and every member country," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters on Monday.

Germany, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, is pushing for a mandate for a new treaty at the Brussels summit so that the EU's institutional reforms can go ahead by 2009.

The EU constitution, signed by all member states in 2004, was vetoed by French and Dutch voters in referendums in 2005, sending the bloc into a period of reflection which is to end at the end of June 2007.

The talks on Sunday night, pitting the 18 countries that have already ratified the EU constitution, against a camp led by Britain, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands, turned out to be difficult.

Steinmeier said after Sunday night's talks that success at the summit is not guaranteed. But he said the 18 countries have agreed to drop the name "constitution."

The ministers also agreed to drop EU symbols and the EU anthem from the constitution.

The ministers had before them a report presented by Germany on the state of play of the constitutional malaise.

There is enormous work to do for Germany to bridge differences between two camps: the "maximalists" -- the 18 member states which have already ratified the constitution -- and the "minimalists," led by Britain, the Netherlands and Poland.

The maximalists, led by Germany, want the substance of the constitution to be maintained in the amending treaty, while the minimalists want the new treaty to be different enough so that the text does not need to be put into referendums again.

The constitution provided for institutional reforms to make the EU's work more efficient by setting up a permanent EU president instead of the current rotating presidency, and the introduction of majority voting in the bloc's decision-making council of ministers.

Institutional changes were deemed necessary as the union was enlarged from 15 to 25 member states in 2004.

Poland, which joined the EU in 2004, is particularly opposed to the proposed "double majority" voting scheme envisaged in the EU constitution, fearing that populous countries like Germany would dominate decision making in the union.

The "double majority" voting system provides for decision-making by at least 55 percent of the number of member states and at the same time 65 percent of EU's total population at the expense of national vetoes.

Poland has threatened to derail the new treaty process and proposed a new voting scheme instead -- a nation's votes would equal the square root of its population.

"There are many ways of moving forward but certainly Poland won't accept the constitutional treaty voting provisions," Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga said on Monday.

The Czech Republic's euro-skeptic leaders are also opposed to the majority voting system. They are unhappy with Germany's "roadmap" for a new treaty in 2009 as Prague will assume the EU presidency in the first six months of that year.

Britain is concerned about the inclusion of the EU charter of fundamental rights, which it fears may affect its labor laws. London also has fears that a new treaty would give Brussels too much power on criminal justice matters.

The Netherlands has similar fears on the EU becoming a superstate.

The member states are also expected to wrangle over whether to give the EU the status of a "single legal personality," which means the EU can join international organizations.

Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said Sunday night that he viewed Britain as "a real problem" on the way to a deal.

"To remove the fundamental rights chapter will be unimaginable for countries like Luxembourg and Spain, which have approved the 2004 edition of the EU constitution," said Asselborn.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel stepped up efforts in recent days to try to bring member states closer to a deal.

She called for compromise from EU member states on Sunday after talks with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

She met Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Saturday and hosted Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek before traveling to Luxembourg for talks with Juncker.

Source: Xinhua