Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands want to give national parliaments the power to block proposed EU legislation under a treaty to replace the stalled EU constitution, senior European diplomats said today.
The three states had asked European Union president Germany to strengthen a provision in the defunct charter whereby one-third of national legislatures may send bills back to the European Commission for redrafting.
"This is known as the 'red card principle'," a senior official familiar with the idea said.
"A yellow card is a warning and the red card is the ability to stop it completely. This is what they want."
Another senior European diplomat confirmed this, though he said it should not be called a veto, which is associated with individual countries, not groups of them.
The senior official said German Chancellor Angela Merkel did "not find the idea to be very controversial" and expressed confidence the plan would be accepted in the end.
The proposal is one of several that will be aired when senior officials of the 27-nation bloc meet in Berlin next Tuesday for the first joint session to thrash out the outlines of a new slimmed-down treaty reforming EU institutions.
German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm said talks on a new treaty had entered a "decisive phase".
Merkel has made reviving the charter a priority of her EU presidency and hopes to broker agreement at a June 21-22 summit on a roadmap for a new treaty to be in place by 2009, replacing the constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
"There are many signs that suggest we will be able to agree a common roadmap at the June summit," Wilhelm said.