Merkel pursues quest for EU treaty agreement

BERLIN, June 17 (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel today pressed on with her drive to reach a consensus on the outlines of a new European Union treaty at a summit this week, with Poland still showing resistance to her plans.

Merkel held four hours of talks yesterday with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who stuck to Warsaw's demands for a re-weighting of EU voting rights in the charter for reforming the bloc's institutions.

''For the time being, we have retained our positions but with the conviction that success should be sought next Thursday and Friday (at the EU summit),'' Poland's PAP news agency quoted Kaczynski as saying after the talks.

Merkel needs to overcome Poland's resistance -- virtually all other EU states oppose Warsaw's demands to overhaul the voting rules -- if she is to end her presidency of the bloc on a positive note at the June 21-22 EU summit.

Only the Czech Republic backs Warsaw's demands for re-weighting the voting system. Merkel, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency for the first half of this year, is due to meet Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek later today.

''The negotiations will continue,'' a German government spokesman said after Merkel's talks with Kaczynski.

Poland believes the voting rules contained in an old treaty that was rejected by French and Dutch voters two years ago gives big states like Germany too much influence.

Poland has threatened to block progress on the charter at the summit if its demands for re-weighting the voting system are not taken into account.

''Our country sees no reason why it should be the biggest cost-bearer of the new agreement,'' PAP quoted the Polish president as saying. He added: ''I think there is a still a chance, but the draft will not be presented until June 19.'' Polish commentators noted that the word 'veto' did not appear a single time in Kaczynski's remarks.

BRITISH DEMANDS Britain also set out red lines for the treaty negotiations, and said there were still quite strong differences of view between member states.

''One of the things that is slightly nerve-wracking to be honest, is that it is still far from clear what proposals the German presidency feels able to put,'' British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett told BBC television in an interview.

Britain would not accept any requirements to change its social and labour laws, would not put its seat on the UN Security Council at risk and did not want to see a treaty that had the characteristics of a constitution, Beckett said.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper yesterday that ''nobody apart from Poland'' wanted to unravel ''the agreed package'' on voting rights. He was confident a treaty agreement could be reached.

REUTERS SW KN1657