Britain:British objections to removing its national veto over judicial and police co-operation matters have moved to centre stage in the debate over how to redraft the EU constitution.
The issue was one of several demands pursued by British officials yesterday at a meeting of envoys from all 27 member states, who are working to revise the treaty.
Poland also raised concerns about the voting system proposed in the constitution, which is being redrafted after its rejection by France and the Netherlands in 2005. But officials believe the UK is emerging as the biggest potential obstacle to agreeing a deal.
London opposes the incorporation of the charter of fundamental rights in a new treaty because it could give workers extra rights to strike. In addition, it does not want to create a post of EU foreign minister and is concerned about changing the current EU rules whereby the UK and the Republic must "opt in" to decisions on judicial and police co-operation.
Under the EU constitution, legislation in this area would be decided by qualified majority voting rather than by unanimous vote, and would come under the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
British officials fear this could undermine national sovereignty and make it more difficult to avoid holding a referendum on a new treaty.
The Financial Times speculated yesterday that Berlin might be willing to allow London to choose whether to take part in police and judicial co-operation in the future as part of a compromise package to get the UK to sign up to a new EU treaty.
Berlin denied that any offer had been placed on the table yet, but the president of the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering - a close confidant of German chancellor Angela Merkel - has also suggested allowing "time-limited opt-outs" to secure a deal.
One British source said an offer of this type from Berlin could be a "clever compromise" that may enable London to sign up to a new treaty. But the British position is complicated because prime minister Tony Blair is thought to be more flexible on extending EU competence to justice matters than Gordon Brown.
This type of deal could place the Republic in a difficult position when EU leaders meet next month to debate the renegotiation of the constitution. The Republic shares a common law legal tradition with the UK and Minister for Justice Michael McDowell has opposed a slew of EU legislation at the Council of Ministers, with British support.
Irish policy is to keep as much of the substance of the constitution as possible, but a new government could be forced to choose between signing up to similar opt-outs in justice matters with the UK or moving ahead with more EU integration in this sensitive area.
Meanwhile, Polish officials repeated their demand that the proposed double majority voting system in the constitution, which would reduce Polish influence in EU decision-making, should be replaced with another formula based on a square root of population size.
The "square root" formula would moderate the loss in Polish influence.
A plan proposed by the Netherlands, Poland and the Czech Republic to give national parliaments the influence to request that some powers be returned to national level got a lukewarm reception in Berlin. The European Commission opposes this so-called "red card" proposal, which it fears would roll back the competence of the EU institutions.
Talks on the redraft of the constitution will continue in the weeks ahead, until EU leaders meet in June to decide the outline of a treaty.