Polen zet hard in op eigen voorstellen Europese Grondwet (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Poland's drive to re-negotiate EU voting rights stems from its painful experience of "hegemonies" in European history Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said in Brussels on Wednesday (18 April), declining to rule out a Polish veto on a new EU treaty if other states do not agree.

"Our historic experience shows we have to be very wary of hegemonic structures," he said. "In the 1950s, after two world wars, Europe was able to verify that politics is a game where you fight for hegemony...or you try to evade it," he added, referring to Luxembourg's fight to secure a veto alongside France in early EU structures.

His remarks came in answer to a press question on whether he supports statements made by Polish official Ewa Osniecka-Tamecka in March, that Poland would "take the last resort" if EU states declined to discuss Polish ideas for a new voting model, which would reduce Germany's ability to push through new EU laws in the teeth of smaller states.

Under the draft EU constitution system - favoured by most EU capitals but not Warsaw and Prague - Germany, the most populous EU state, would have 82 votes and Poland 38 in a complex double majority formula. Under Poland's new model, Germany would have nine votes and Poland six. Under the existing 2001 Nice treaty system Germany has 29 votes and Poland has 27.

"Poland is not satisfied with a situation in which from quite a privileged position in the Nice structure we are to become one of the least privileged," Mr Kaczynski went on, expressing hope that Poland's bilateral talks with EU leaders in the run up to the June EU summit will enable the German EU presidency to stay on track with its treaty timetable.

On the defensive

The Wednesday trip was Mr Kaczynski's second visit to Brussels in eight months to reassure European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso that Warsaw is "committed to the European project," with the Polish premier extolling the virtues of Polish EU membership in terms of economic growth since accession in 2004.

Mr Barroso reacted warily to the Polish leader, emphasising pro-EU feeling among the Polish public at large and using phrases such as "I hope that" or "I expect that" with respect to Polish cooperation on the EU treaty and wider policy areas.

"Our clear preference is to leave as many things as possible in the constitution as they are. If you ask me if I'm in favour of opening up certain points, I prefer a very cautious approach. But it's up to the member states...to find a solution," the commission president said.

The Polish leader also used the Brussels trip to take a swipe at western media, with leading British, Spanish, German and Italian papers recently calling his rightist government anti-Semitic and homophobic and referring to lustration - Poland's attack on Communist-era collaborators - as a "witch-hunt" and a return to the "inquisition."

"I feel, Sir, that you are talking on the basis of a total lack of knowledge about Poland," Mr Kaczynski told one Italian journalist on Wednesday. "I say this with some pain, as I don't know why this [media] campaign is being waged."

The Jaruzelski case

This week, the Polish government gave the green light for 83-year old Communist-era Polish president, Wojciech Jaruzelski, to face trial for "Communist crimes" in a move that could see him end his life in jail.

"I don't see any reason why criminals, with blood on their hands, should not answer for their crimes," the prime minister said, comparing Jaruzelski to Nazi Germany war criminals and saying he will not respect "political deals" cut by post-Velvet Revolution Polish authorities with the old guard of Communist-era VIPs.

Jaruzelski - a widely-hated figure in Poland remembered for always wearing giant sunglasses - imposed martial law in the country in 1981, with soldiers killing up to 90 pro-democracy activists in clashes over the following months.

The critical foreign media coverage - mirrored by liberal-oriented Polish papers like Gazeta Wyborcza - is also linked to Mr Kaczynski's coalition partnership with the League of Polish Families party.

The "league" is a doctrinaire Roman Catholic group that openly flirts with anti-Semitic ideology and in March proposed new laws to throw gay schoolteachers out of work.