Speaking while visiting Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Brussels on 18 April 2007, Polish Prime Minister Jarsolaw Kaczynski reaffirmed his scepticism towards the Constitutional Treaty. Poland wants to reopen the issue of the Council voting system, which is less favourable for his country under the constitutional provisions than under the current system, he said.
"We need to be afraid of hegemonic structures," Kaczynski said, suggesting there was a risk of large member states dominating others.
Following a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Czech Republic on 17 April, President Vaclav Klaus spoke of a "qualitative change" in the constitutional debate but at the same time remained tough on his main points of criticism.
"Time schedule is not important," Klaus stated with regard to the German Presidency's plan to present a road map for a new treaty, setting up an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) under the Portuguese Presidency during the second half of 2007 and providing a timeline for its adoption by 2009. He said there was no reason to rush and that the EU worked well even without a Constitution.
Klaus said he appreciated that the discussion had shifted. According to him, the German Presidency realised that changes in content were more important than the time schedule. The Czech president stressed that it was important that the presidency spoke of a "new treaty" rather than the "Constitution". Merkel, however, refrained from commenting on the issue after the meeting.
The German EU Presidency is stepping up efforts to salvage most of the changes proposed by the Constitutional Treaty, but the Czech president remains critical of certain elements, such as creating the post of EU foreign minister. He added that the discussion about the division of competences between the EU and its member states should be reopened. Referring to the position of the Czech government, he said that he wants to scrap the Charter of Fundamental Rights and also renegotiate the issue of Council voting rules, as the present Constitution text favoured large countries.
The Czech president welcomed former German President Roman Herzog’s discussion on a possible "two-speed EU", where some countries may opt for closer co-operation, but underlined that those states which decided to move "faster" were not "better members" than those who opted for a slower pace of integration.
EurActi.cz has contributed to this article.
