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EU Summit Opens
Merkel formally invited her fellow EU leaders to the two-day summit with the message that "the European public now expects us to put the necessary reforms of the Union in hand."
However the Polish position remains "unchanged, we have not seen any accommodation," a spokesman for the German EU presidency said in Berlin Wednesday.
Poland and Britain have led boisterous criticism of Germany`s insistence on keeping key parts of the rejected constitution, with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski saying Germany`s moves are "hurting Europe, hurting Poland.``
Warsaw believes "double majority" voting, under which agreement by 55 percent of member states representing 65 percent of the EU population would be required for decisions, would favour big states like Germany at the expense of the small and medium-sized member states.
EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso held an hour-long telephone conversation with Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski Wednesday seeking a compromise.
"The veto remains highly likely," Kaczynski told Polish public television, adding that it would be "suicide" to give in.
Both the prime minister and his identical twin brother, President Lech Kaczynski, have claimed Poland is "willing to die" to defend its corner.
Polish Foreign Minister Anna Fotyga however said Wednesday she was "cautiously optimistic" a deal could be reached on the key issue of voting rights.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair insists he will not cede national control over foreign policy, the judicial and police system or tax and social security rules, while refusing to give legal force in Britain to an EU charter of fundamental rights.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy meanwhile said he remained hopeful for a deal.
"We will try to find a compromise," Sarkozy said in a television interview, adding: "I do not want to imagine that we will not find one."
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said he was sure the EU states could reach agreement on a new treaty but said he was "very worried" about British opposition to an EU-wide foreign policy.
Merkel has invested much political capital in pushing for agreement on a new treaty, deemed necessary to drag the EU`s institutions into the 21st century and streamline the functioning of a Union which has expanded from 15 to 27 nations since 2004.
Germany, which holds the EU presidency until the end of the month, on Tuesday handed its EU partners a draft mandate for agreement.
The draft scraps references to the EU flag and anthem, items guaranteed to raise the hackles of eurosceptics.
It also avoids some controversial terminology. The new "reform treaty" would amend existing EU treaties rather than replace them. The word "constitution" has been dropped.
Germany insists on an EU foreign minister, but a new job title has to be agreed. This is unlikely to satisfy Brit.
For Britain, which also opposes more qualified majority voting in judicial matters, preferring instead unanimity decision-making, Germany offered a clause for countries that choose not to participate.
The German draft also provides for national parliaments to be given up to eight weeks to examine draft laws, satisfying a demand by the Netherlands.
Any draft mandate for a treaty will then go to an intergovernmental conference, which officials say could start in July, for several months of discussion.
EU Commission Chief Barroso warned that the EU leaders, and journalists, could expect a "three-shirt summit" meaning the talks could extend into Saturday.
All 27 nations, however, agree that the European Union must move quickly to adopt a new rulebook to streamline the complex decision-making system crafted years ago when it was a union of 15.
On Tuesday, Merkel presented her counterparts with an 11-page shopping list of issues she wants included in negotiations on a new treaty, a list EU leaders will have to agree to over the next two days before full-blown technical negotiations on replacing the dead constitution can begin.
Crucially, she also proposed dropping the title "constitution`` and calling it a the "Treaty on the Functioning of the Union`` instead. Berlin wants EU nations to finalize the treaty in the months ahead.
The proposal recommends giving national parliaments more say in drafting EU laws, a key Dutch demand, but recommends that the EU retain essential elements of the aborted constitution, notably on decision-making and areas where the EU wants more powers.