EUROPE: Reform Tastes an Eastern Flavour

By Zoltán Dujisin Reprint | | Print |

Zoltán Dujisin

BUDAPEST, Aug 15 2007 (IPS) - The European Union has agreed on a document to reform itself institutionally, but Brussels is beginning to understand it will have to get used to tough opposition from some of its Eastern European member states.

The Jun. 22 agreement set the mandate for completing an EU institutional reform treaty, which experts estimate will come into force by spring 2009 at the latest.

This was one of the priorities of the German EU rotating presidency, which saw the EU as being in an institutional crisis. While all sides expressed relative satisfaction with the agreement, the overall feeling was that national interests continue to prevail over common EU goals.

The treaty&#39s new rules will make it easier for pro-integration countries to cooperate closely among themselves, leaving the more reticent states behind. This causes concern among some, such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who fear an EU developing at two speeds.

Britain was again granted legal exceptions while Poland made sure some of the fundamental reforms agreed by all other members would be delayed for as long as possible. However, the EU will somewhat strengthen its voice in foreign policy, and interior and judicial affairs will no longer require unanimity.

The European Commission will reduce its members to 18 commissioners, making it no longer necessary to include a representative of each one of the EU&#39s 27 members.

Negotiating marathons for EU institutional reform have always proven intricate, but this time around Brussels had to deal with two additional unenthusiastic members coming from the recent accession wave of 2004 – Poland and the Czech Republic.

When Poland&#39s Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said he was ready to "die" for a greater influence of Poland in the EU&#39s decision making, it became clear that soft diplomacy would not suffice.

Poland&#39s opposition to the double majority voting system and its demand for a square root system based on 2003&#39s Treaty of Nice was excluded a priori by all other EU members except the Czech Republic, who offered it cautious support. The square root system proposed by the Nice treaty meant advantages for countries with a large population, such as Poland (39 million).

Though many in Poland disagree with the manner in which the Kaczynski brothers (president and prime minister) have pursued their goals in foreign policy, opposition parties in Poland also backed the government in seeking the square root voting system.

The square root system is based on calculating the square root of each country&#39s population, whereas under the double majority system decisions at the EU Council level will require the support of 55 percent of member states representing at least 65 percent of the EU&#39s total population.

The new system is seen by Poland as increasing German weight in EU-decision making while diminishing Warsaw&#39s influence.

In spite of the summit&#39s approval of the double majority voting system, Polish officials are satisfied with having obtained its postponement until 2014, together with the upholding of Nice Treaty rules until then.

Proud of his tough negotiating stance, Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski boasted additional victories in the form of a lowering of the threshold of votes necessary to block EU Council decisions and by obtaining the right to delay EU Council decisions for up to two years.

The Prime Minister nevertheless admitted these guarantees had not been obtained in written mode.

Polish President Lech Kaczynski, the Prime Minister&#39s brother, moreover announced that Poland had obtained the right to use its own legal system for religious and moral matters, which some say threatens human rights in view of Warsaw&#39s staunchly conservative family and moral politics.

"Theoretically we have obtained a very good deal that gives us weight in the decision-making process," Andrzej Bobinski, programme coordinator at the Centre for International Relations in Warsaw told IPS. "But the way Polish politicians are perceived in European capitals and the image of Poland&#39s approach to European policy has deteriorated."

The summit&#39s environment was extremely tense, especially after Prime Minister Kaczynski reinforced his argument for the square root voting system by reminding Europe of Poland&#39s population losses at the hands of Germany during World War II.

Indignation was widespread and even Polish commentators called it an "all-time low" in Poland&#39s recent diplomatic history. This also added heat to the already thorny German-Polish relations, at their worst since the collapse of state socialism.

Besides the obvious historical grudges, Poland is suspicious of German-Russian deals in the energy sphere, which it sees as a danger to its own energy security, and is wary of claims by German World War II expellees who demand financial compensation from Warsaw.

While Poland felt like the winner of the treaty negotiation, many Western analysts and politicians have warned Warsaw that its behaviour was not acceptable and that in future negotiations finding allies among EU countries will be a tricky task.

These criticisms are resonating also domestically as opposition parties attack the government for its clumsy approach to legitimate foreign policy goals.

"How this agreement has been negotiated and how foreign policy was conducted during the summer was more negative than positive," says Bobinski. "Poland will have to open up more, and a lot will depend on who is in charge of foreign policy in the future."

As the June Summit approached and most EU states were increasing pressure on the more troublesome Poland, the Czech side softened its stance.

Especially under right-wing governments, the Czechs have a history of opposition to further political integration, and have consistently looked at Britain as an example in formulating their pro-market EU policy.

Right-wing elites in Prague are often opposed to what they think is a socialist-bureaucratic machinery running the EU.

In the weeks preceding the summit, criticism of an "artificial rush" to approve a European Constitution and reform EU institutions, as well as of any social dimension in EU policy, was heard from the Czech side.

After the summit&#39s conclusion, Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek expressed satisfaction with the agreed principles.

The absence of constitutional or state symbols, the possibility of transferring powers from Brussels to national capitals and the mention of a semi-independent high representative for foreign policy at the expense of an EU foreign minister, were all to Czech liking, as they were to the British.

Thanks to the new agreement the Czechs are no longer hinting at a referendum, aware that only 46 of its population is pleased with EU membership, according to a recent poll. Prague had previously threatened to take a fully-fledged EU constitution to referendum.