EU treaty clears Polish hurdle

The European Union's reform treaty cleared a major hurdle on its way to ratification across the bloc yesterday when the Polish lower house of Parliament overcame weeks of bickering to approve it.

Deputies voted 384 to 68 to authorise President Lech Kaczynski to ratify the charter, well clear of the two-thirds majority required.

The result, jeopardised by a threat by the biggest opposition party to vote against the document, must now be confirmed by the upper house, the Senate.

"This day will become historic," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said before the vote. "It will show that at critical moments we can rise above political divisions."

The Senate votes today and Mr Kaczynski may ratify the treaty on the same day, making Poland the seventh EU nation to approve it.

The treaty aims to streamline EU decision-making after the bloc's historic expansion in 2004. It is a modified version of the draft constitution French and Dutch voters rejected in 2005.

The treaty must be ratified by all 27 member states by the end of the year. So far it has been passed by the parliaments of Hungary, Slovenia, Malta, Romania, France and Bulgaria.

The treaty's fate in Poland, the largest EU newcomer, looked secure three weeks ago because both the centre-right government and the opposition supported it.

But the Law and Justice party of conservative ex-Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the President's twin brother, made a U-turn under pressure from its eurosceptic wing and threatened to vote "No".

The party demanded special provisions in Polish law that would make future changes to the treaty all but impossible - a demand which lawyers called unconstitutional.

The about-face cemented Mr Kaczynski's reputation for unpredictability and angered EU partners because he and his brother signed up to the treaty when their party was in power.

The deadlock raised the spectre of a referendum, which could have led to calls for plebiscites across the bloc, increasing the risk that one of them might kill the treaty. Only Ireland is constitutionally obliged to hold a referendum on the charter.

In the end, Mr Kaczynski backed down after opinion polls showed a clear majority of Poles would back the treaty in a vote, and his brother joined him in urging deputies to vote in favour.