Fischer and Cimoszewicz meet to discuss European Constitution

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer arrived in Poland on Friday following an invitation from his counterpart Włodzimierz Cimoszewicz to discuss several issues, including the future European Constitution. During a press conference on Saturday in Białowieża Fischer said that an agreement on the contents of the Constitution must be reached by the before the day of of EU enlargement, or else the Union of 25 nations would have a huge problem. During the weekend, both ministers discussed the issues pertaining to changes in the way votes will be counted in the European Parliament, which will reduced Poland's influence. "Negotiations will be carried out during the intergovernmental conference. Now we have time to explain our position," said Cimoszewicz. Fischer did not say if he was convinced by Poland's perspective, and chose to focus on stressing how much his government has done so far for Poland's accession to the EU. "Both me and the Chancellor were in Nice and were fighting so that Poland's position in the enlarged Union was not worse than that of Spain. And it is obvious that we were representing the European and not a national interest," stated Fischer. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 8) M.M.