POLAND:The president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, has warned Poland not to wreck next week's EU summit or it could face a backlash from other states.
In an interview ahead of a trip to Poland this weekend, Mr Pöttering heaped additional pressure on Warsaw over its demand to rewrite the so-called "double majority" voting system in the draft EU constitution.
He urged Warsaw to compromise over the voting system issue or risk driving a wedge between itself and Berlin, and weakening Poland's influence in the union.
"It would hurt Poland especially because those who are very open-minded to Poland would be very frustrated and there should not be one country either big or small or medium-sized that should try to impose its own will on all the others," he said.
At the summit European leaders will seek a mandate for talks on the redrafting of the European constitution and want to agree new rules governing how the EU operates. But Polish objections to "double majority" voting - which requires the approval of at least 55 per cent of states representing 65 per cent of the population, for EU decisions - risks derailing attempts to solve a crisis prompted by the rejection of the constitution.
Poland favours a "square root" voting system, which reduces the voting weight of large EU states in favour of medium-sized states. This would increase Poland's voting weight relative to Germany, a neighbour with which it has a difficult relationship.
But every other EU state, bar perhaps the Czech Republic, opposes Warsaw - believing that rewriting the voting system would cause the delicate institutional balance achieved in the constitution to fall apart. For example, changing the relative voting weights could cause other member states to demand changes to composition of the European Commission, and lead to a long delay in the redrafting of a new treaty.
Mr Pöttering warned that if Warsaw blocked progress in the EU it would be Poland that felt it first. He also emphasised the solidarity the EU has shown recently towards Poland under the German presidency in its dealings with its volatile neighbour Russia.
"Solidarity is not a one-way street, it is always a two-way street and I have not given up the hope that the Polish government realises this," said the German Christian Democrat MEP, who is a close confidant of German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Despite visits from a host of EU leaders, including the French president Nicolas Sarkozy, Warsaw has so far obstinately refused to back down on its demand to scrap the double majority voting system. Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has several times repeated the slogan "square root or die", raising concerns in Brussels.
Mr Pöttering admits difficult Polish-German relations may be a factor in the resolute stance. Memories of the war remain strong in Poland and a controversial German-Russian deal on a gas pipeline that bypasses Poland has further inflamed passions.
"On the question of the pipeline I have always criticised that the former German government did not speak with the Poles," he said.
"I understand this Polish criticism but the question of double majority [ voting] is not a question between Poland and Germany, it is a question between Poland and the whole rest of the EU," he added.
Berlin has so far refused Polish demands to ask EU leaders next week to put the voting question on the agenda of an intergovernmental conference, which will begin in July.