Poland Holds Position on New EU Constitution

Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has reiterated that Poland will continue to try to introduce a blocking mechanism into any new EU "constitutional" treaty, which would enable nations to delay decisions not to their benefit. "Poland will make efforts to introduce arrangements from Ioannina into the EU constitution treaty protocol, since that would boost the document's prestige, placing it on a level equal to other EU treaties", according to the PM.

The so-called Ioannina compromise refers to an informal agreement made in Greece in 1994 when ministers were discussing how to organize qualified majority voting within an enlarged European Union. "Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga confirmed during the last meeting of EU Foreign Ministers in Portugal that Poland sees as it's main objective introducing a provision allowing to postpone disadvantageous, in Poland's opinion, decisions in the Council of the European Union ", said PM Kaczynski. "There is an ongoing discussion concerning the EU treaty and we will continue persuading the remaining EU member states to accept Polish postulates", added the prime minister.