WRAPUP 2-EU leaders pave way towards reform treaty deal

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By Ingrid Melander

BRUSSELS, June 23 (Reuters) - European Union leaders paved the way for an agreement early on Saturday to overhaul the 27-nation bloc by persuading Poland to end a stand-off that nearly torpedoed their summit.

Leaders of several EU countries convinced Polish President Lech Kaczynski to accept a compromise version of planned changes to the bloc's voting rights in a new treaty in exchange for a long delay in their introduction, EU diplomats said.

"They convinced him and there was a deal," Spain's Europe minister, Alberto Navarro, told Reuters.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, chairing the summit at the end of Germany's presidency of the EU, had struggled to break Poland's opposition to the treaty which would cut Warsaw's voting power and give more say to big countries, especially Germany.

Merkel eventually threatened to launch treaty negotiations regardless of Warsaw's objections.

The treaty is designed to replace the EU constitution that was rejected by voters in France and the Netherlands in 2005.

It will preserve key features such as the creation of a long-term president of the Union, a foreign policy chief with increased powers to represent the EU on the world stage, and a bigger say for the European and national parliaments.

Poland finally settled for a deal that put off introduction of the double majority decision-making procedure until 2017 and other concessions proposed by Germany, diplomats said. Warsaw was also offered pledges of solidarity by the rest of the bloc in the event of future energy crises, a big concern of Poland which is heavily dependent on imports from giant gas and oil exporter Russia, its neighbour and former communist master.

RED LINES MET

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the leaders of Spain, Lithuania and Luxembourg all helped mediate with Poland, partly to overcome the ruling Kaczynski twins' historical aversion to Germany, reflected in bitter remarks about World War Two.

Britain had strong concerns about the treaty too but said it was confident the deal met all of its "red lines" on sensitive issues such as expanding EU powers over labour and justice.

London won a convoluted exemption from the application of a legally binding EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in Britain.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said the deal would not require Britain to hold a referendum on the treaty.

But even after most British and Polish objections appeared to have been overcome, the leaders continued to wrangle into the night over reservations by nine other states, some angered at concessions made to the more Eurosceptic nations.

Several countries objected to a clause on morality and family law, meant to appease Poland, which they argued undermined the EU's commitment to civil rights, diplomats said.

Merkel warned them not to unpick what she called a global package.

The deal was vital to enable the EU to tackle challenges such as global warming, cope with its enlargement from 15 to 27 member states and create the conditions for future expansion, she said.

Eurosceptic critics fear a dilution of national sovereignty but many of the 18 countries that had ratified the constitution were dismayed to see the document watered down.

The leaders scored their first success by agreeing on the title, role and powers of a new official to run the 27-nation bloc's common foreign policy, to be styled High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

It will combine the existing jobs of foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who does mostly crisis management, and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who controls the executive European Commission's big aid budget.

The new foreign policy chief would chair meetings of EU foreign ministers and head a combined external action service drawing on both national and EU diplomats, after Britain dropped its reservations on those points.

Keywords: EU TREATY/