Fischer in Warsaw says Nice Treaty will go ahead if no compromise is reached

German Foreign Affairs Minister Joschka Fischer, on an official visit to Poland, said that he hopes that a compromise concerning the European Constitution will be reached and that the countries negotiating this issue would find the best solution to balance the influence of small and large countries in the enlarged EU. "Nice is not a matter of life and death, but of compromise. One has to be patient in order to achieve it," said Fischer during his Thursday meeting with Deputies in the Sejm. He added that if the countries do not manage to hammer out an alternative, than it would not be the end of the world, and the Nice Treaty would enter force. He stressed that Germany was not aiming to discriminate against any country and, "In Nice we were also fighting against discrimination. Poland was to receive two votes less than Spain despite having the same number of citizens," reminded Fischer. (www.polskieradio.pl; Rzeczpospolita, p. A1) M.M.