Miller agrees to double majority system in EU Constitution

Poland and Spain have reached a compromise concerning the voting system. They agreed that the Convent's proposition (the so-called double majority rule), not the Nice Treaty, would be employed in the Constitution. However, Spain and Poland wish that in order to make decisions binding, the consent of countries representing 65% of the EU's population should be needed, as opposed to the 60% proposed by the Convent. The compromise was possible as the new designate Spanish Prime Minister Jose Zapatero announced long ago that he is ready to negotiate the issue. Leszek Miller, whose position was weakened by internal national affairs, chose not to use his nation's veto alone at the beginning of Poland's EU membership. (Gaz eta Wyborcza, March 27-28, p. 6) D.W.