Compromise talk mounts on EU constitution

Talk of a compromise in a dispute among European Union states over voting rights mounted, few days before a crucial summit due to approve a new constitution for the expanding bloc.

Germany, which would be the main beneficiary of a reform of the voting system to take more account of population size, said postponing a decision could cause splits in the EU.

If Poland and Spain forced EU leaders to delay reform, "we will have the opposite of what we want: namely a multispeed EU, where cracks will appear", German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer told the Financial Times in an interview.

The European Parliament said it saw scope for a deal on reforming the majority voting system by which the EU takes most decisions, the biggest outstanding dispute among member states in the final phase of negotiations.

Spain, holding out against the proposed voting system reform, sounded more conciliatory. Spanish Secretary of State for European Affairs Ramon de Miguel said after talks with Belgian counterpart Jacques Simonet in Madrid he believed agreement was possible at next week's summit.

Asked about a British proposal to delay for years a decision on a new EU voting system, Mr de Miguel told a news conference: "Spain has never made a proposal of that kind. We want this matter resolved at this InterGovernmental Conference."

EU leaders meet in Brussels on December 12 and 13 to finalise the constitution, meant to ensure the bloc can function effectively after it expands eastwards from 15 to 25 members next May and its population swells to 450 million.

Mr Simonet said there was "a negotiating space" that should be exploited, if possible in bilateral talks on Monday when EU foreign ministers meet, and certainly at the summit.

In a non-binding resolution, the European Parliament said it believed there was room for manoeuvre, and it should be possible to respect proposals drafted by a Convention of EU lawmakers and national representatives while meeting Spanish and Polish needs.

The current system gives small and medium-sized states power disproportionate to their population size.

Spain and Poland want to keep voting weights won at an acrimonious Nice summit in 2000, when they were granted 27 votes each, compared to 29 for Britain, France, Italy and Germany.

Germany alone has double the population of Spain or Poland.

"The European Parliament... perceives... a margin for compromise on the proposed figures, provided that such a compromise respects the principle of the double majority, and lowering of the threshold fixed at Nice," the resolution said.

Parliament is an observer at the negotiations and does not have the power to ratify the resulting treaty. But it does hold a political vote on the text, likely to influence national parliaments and referendums.

Mr de Miguel said the Parliament resolution "contains compromise formulas that can be examined, not only by us but also by the rest because everybody has to agree".

He said it was up to Italy, as current EU president, to follow up the suggestions.

Italy has so far refused to make a compromise proposal on the voting system, sticking to the draft, but diplomats said intense private talks were under way on possible alternatives.

They could involve re-allocating more fairly the weighted votes agreed at Nice, raising the population threshold for majority decisions, or crafting a review clause that would guarantee reform could be adopted later in the decade.

A senior Polish diplomat said one possibility was to agree to review the Nice voting system in 2008, with a commitment to take a decision on reform then by majority vote - a move that might reassure Germany it was likely to get its way eventually.

In Paris, conservative EU leaders failed to overcome disagreements over the planned constitution, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin and Italy's Silvio Berlusconi told reporters.

Mr Raffarin hosted a meeting of conservative politicians from across Europe, including Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who is staunchly opposed to the current draft backed by France and Germany.

"There can be some changes to the Convention (draft) but we hope they will be limited and based on consensus. Important advances have been made but there remains work to be done," Mr Raffarin told reporters after the meeting.

Mr Berlusconi, who will chair the summit, said differences remained on some key issues - voting procedures, the make-up of the executive Commission and common defence arrangements.