POLAND: Polish foreign minister Adam Rotfeld has said Poland's referendum on the EU constitution will go ahead, hours after his deputy said Britain's postponement was the "proverbial nail in the coffin".
President Aleksander Kwasniewski said yesterday that the Polish referendum would be held on October 9th, the same day as the vote to elect his successor. However the Polish parliament, the Sejm, has yet to formally decide whether to hold a referendum to ratify the constitution.
"The French, Dutch or British cannot make the decision for us. We should decide for ourselves ... through a referendum," said Mr Rotfeld yesterday. "Regardless of what happens to the treaty, an unambiguous 'yes' by Poland in favour of European integration given through a referendum will greatly strengthen Poland's position." Earlier deputy foreign minister, Jan Truszczynski, said the British decision would "complicate the life of countries who face referendums in the coming months" and that "there is a question about what would happen with ratification in other countries".
Mr Truszczynski warned against calls to reopen negotiations, telling Polish radio: "I doubt that in such negotiations we can achieve a better result for Poland. It's in Poland's interest to continue European integration." The constitution is certain to be dragged into the domestic political debate in Poland ahead of September's general election which will see the left-wing, pro-constitution government almost certain to be replaced with conservative opposition parties who oppose the constitution.
"It's a bit unclear at the moment what the official position is as there probably is none," said Mr Tiotr Kaczynski of the Institute for Public Affairs, a non-partisan think tank in Warsaw. "The current government is trying to use the constitution as a lever to gain support among the population. Opposition parties will kick constitution as hard as they can because they see it as already dead so it will cause no harm." In Prague, the Social Democrat Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek said the Czech Republic would hold to its referendum as planned next year, but would only fix a date after the upcoming EU summit. Opposition Civic Democrat (ODS) leader Mirek Topolanek described the constitution as a "dead document".
Slovak President Ivan Gasparovic was joined by Bulgarian and Romanian leaders in his call for the ratification process to continue. Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said yesterday he saw no reason to change plans to hold a referendum on September 27th.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer described the British decision as "not an end but an interruption". Government spokesman Bela Anda said that every country holding the presidency of the European Council - Britain from July - had a "special obligation to the EU, and in this case the constitutional process".