Divisions over a new European Union treaty have deepened on the eve of a crucial summit today with Poland and Brussels locked in confrontation and Britain angering its EU partners by making new demands.
An EU diplomat who attended a five-hour meeting of personal representatives of EU leaders yesterday said Britain had come in at the last minute with far-reaching demands to water down proposals for a common European foreign and security policy.
The EU already faces a threat from Poland to veto talks on the new treaty unless European leaders agree to discuss a proposal to give Warsaw more voting rights.
EU leaders are due to meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday with some member states wanting to keep as much as possible of an ambitious EU constitution.
Others, such as Ireland and Britain, argue the rejection of the charter by Dutch and French voters in 2005 means the EU should pursue only limited changes needed to operate more smoothly.
A EU diplomat said London was demanding that a proposed EU foreign minister, whose job title would be downgraded, should not chair monthly meetings of member states' foreign ministers.
Britain also argued a planned EU foreign service should be entirely inter-governmental and not include the 3,500-strong external services of the European Commission, the EU's executive body, the diplomat said.
Nor would the EU foreign minister be allowed to speak on behalf of the bloc at the United Nations, except with the permission of U.N. Security Council members, such as Britain.
Officials from the EU's German presidency chairing the meeting were angry, saying Prime Minister Tony Blair had never raised these demands at any of his several meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to the diplomat.
Britain had suddenly raised the new conditions in the last few days, on top of demands to remove a charter of fundamental rights from the treaty and its insistence on retaining a national veto on judicial issues, the official said.
"There is a risk that they will go so far that others become exasperated," the diplomat said.
Officials from the EU's German presidency chairing the meeting were angry, saying Prime Minister Tony Blair had never raised these demands at any of his several meetings with Chancellor Angela Merkel, according to the diplomat.
Britain had suddenly raised the new conditions in the last few days, on top of demands to remove a charter of fundamental rights from the treaty and its insistence on retaining a national veto on judicial issues, the official said.
"There is a risk that they will go so far that others become exasperated," the diplomat said.