Merkel seeks to overcome Poland EU treaty threat

German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Poland's president yesterday in a last-ditch effort to convince Warsaw to drop its threat to veto talks on a new European Union treaty.

Poland's Eurosceptic ruling Kaczynski twins have threatened to block progress on the charter for re-forming EU institutions at a June 21-22 summit if their demands for re-weighting the EU voting system are not taken into account.

Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said earlier she wanted EU leaders to agree at the summit on a schedule whereby all member countries would ratify the treaty before elections to the European parliament are held in 2009.

Merkel and Polish President Lech Kaczynski were not due to hold a news conference after meeting in Me-seberg, near Berlin.

Warsaw believes the voting rules contained in the treaty give too much power to big countries - Ger-many in particular. Poland's demands are backed only by the Czech Re-public.

Merkel is due to meet Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek in Meseberg today.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Poland on Thursday as part of a diplomatic offensive. On Fri-day, Poland held out the possibility it could drop its threat to veto treaty talks.

European Parliament speaker Hans-Gert Poettering told Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper Warsaw "should not isolate itself and lead the EU into a crisis".

Warsaw's relations with the EU have deteriorated since the nationalist Kaczynskis took power in 2005 and the brothers show a deep suspicion of Germany, rooted in Poland's suffering under Nazi occupation during World War II.

French and Dutch voters' rejection in 2005 of the earlier version of the treaty, styled as a consti-tution rather than a treaty, plunged the bloc into a crisis of confidence.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, asked if there would be a compromise on the simplified treaty, told France's weekly Journal du Dimanche: "There is a good chance that member states will reach an agreement".