Poland upbeat on EU treaty after Merkel visit

Poland has agreed to sign the Berlin Declaration on the future of the EU as a basis for work on a new draft of a constitutional treaty that it hopes can be agreed by June, President Lech Kaczynski said yesterday.

Speaking at the end of a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Kaczynski said he was likely to sign the declaration even if it did not include wording Warsaw has sought, including a reference to the bloc's Christian roots.

The Berlin Declaration is Merkel's bid to create a road map for reviving the EU's stalled constitution, but critics argue it is a fudge that will struggle to lead to anything concrete.

In a sign of the difficulties ahead, German officials have acknowledged the declaration, to be made at a summit of the 27-nation bloc in Berlin later this month, will mention neither the word "constitution" nor a timetable for reform.

The EU constitution is aimed at making the bloc's institutions more efficient and to stream-line decision making. The last version was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

Merkel wants the bloc to have a new constitution before 2009 and has vowed to forge consensus on a new charter and present a guide for ratification at a Brussels summit in June.

Kazcynski and his identical twin, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, have been among the strongest opponents of the existing version of the treaty, saying it would lead to excessively close integration of the EU.