A chance to cast a conciliatory vote

Poland has suggested that instead of basing the number of a member state's votes on its population, the votes should be based on the square root of the population. This solution, Kaczyński claims, will ensure that smaller countries have a greater say. However, as the only country in the EU to oppose the reform, Poland is risking being seen as a pariah. One MEP has already suggested that Poland can leave the union if it doesn't want to cooperate. If the opposition to the plan continues, it would effectively block a new treaty on the EU constitution - a treaty upon which Germany has staked the success of its EU presidency.

But it emerged from last week's meeting that Kaczyński is eager to lose his image as a Euro-skeptic conservative. Furthermore, he wants his country to be a central player in the bloc. His major fear is that Poland should be relegated to a mere puppet of a larger power, as it was under Soviet domination. It is here, therefore, that Kaczyński and Barroso are in agreement. Both men want to see Poland develop as an active and effective member of the EU, and both favor a more streamlined Europe which puts as few bureaucratic obstacles as possible in Poland's way.

It is time for Kaczyński to drop Poland's opposition to the proposed new voting system. As hardly needs to be said, the EU is not the totalitarian behemoth that the Soviet Union was. Poland's convoluted proposals will just further complicate already complex EU institutions at a time when, more than anything else, they need to be simplified. It is fair and right that Poland should stand up for its interests in the EU, but by stubbornly opposing necessary reforms, it risks losing far more than it could gain.