UPDATE 1-Poland says it is making "last chance" EU proposal

22.06.2007 | , Reuters
Zpravodajství ČTK


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(recasts with French spokesman)...

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BRUSSELS, June 22 (Reuters) - Germany and France put a compromise proposal to Poland on Friday on a reformed voting system for the European Union and Polish leaders were conferring amid rising optimism, a French presidential spokesman said.

"We've never been so close to an agreement, or to a disagreement," spokesman David Martinon told reporters on the second day of a crucial EU summit in Brussels.

Poland said there was no deal yet on the central dispute over the voting system but Warsaw was about to put its own "last chance" proposal to the German EU presidency and France.

"There is no agreement. We are going into another multilateral meeting with the French and the Germans. Our proposal is a last-chance proposal," a Polish official said.

A senior EU diplomat familiar with the talks said Germany, France and Lithuania had put forward a compromise package giving Poland compensation if it accepted the double-majority decision-making procedure backed by all other member states.

The new system would take effect only in 2014 instead of 2009 as originally planned, and states that were just short of a blocking minority could delay a decision and force further negotiation for a limited period, he said.

The diplomat said President Lech Kaczynski, representing Poland at the summit, was conferring by telephone with his twin brother, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, and would return to another meeting with the three countries seeking a deal.

"It would seem we are quite close to an agreement," the diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.

Keywords: EU TREATY/PROPOSAL

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