Poland can't accept Merkel treaty victory-Austria

BERLIN, June 14 (Reuters) Poland appears unwilling to accept a German-led deal to revive the EU's stalled constitution and may prefer to wait until after Germany's presidency of the bloc to decide the charter's future, Austria's chancellor said.

''One gets the impression that the Polish leadership, under the Kaczynski brothers, is simply unwilling to allow the Germans a victory in reviving the reforms,'' Alfred Gusenbauer told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily after meeting the Polish leaders on Monday.

''They sharply criticised the German presidency.'' German Chancellor Angela Merkel has vowed to unveil a ''road map'' next week for relaunching the EU constitution that was rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago.

Poland, which wants changes to the voting rules within the 27-nation bloc, is proving the biggest obstacle to her drive.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is due to meet the Polish leadership today to try to convince them to drop their opposition to a new treaty before a June 21-22 summit in Brussels.

Merkel, who is due to give a speech in parliament today on her plans for the summit, is expected to meet Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Saturday north of Berlin in a last-ditch effort to convince Warsaw to compromise.

Gusenbauer said he believed the summit could fail because of the Poles, whose demands to tweak the voting system are opposed by every EU member state except the Czech Republic, which has offered Warsaw half-hearted support.

Asked if the Polish government thought its interests would be best served by stalling on the treaty until the German presidency ends at the end of this month, Gusenbauer replied: ''That is what it sounded like to me''.

Separately, European Parliament speaker Hans-Gert Poettering warned Poland against vetoing a deal in Brussels.

''Those that show no solidarity with the European community will isolate themselves,'' he said in an interview with Germany's Passauer Neue Presse daily.

Reuters SG DB1237