Moral ambiguity hangs over Accession Treaty

Tomorrow the Council of Europe is expected to accept the final version of the Accession Treaty. The 15 member states will decide whether to include in the text a number of unilateral declarations proposed by individual candidates. The closing date of the final reading was announced by EU spokesman Guenter Verheugen. The most serious dilemma concerns the declaration submitted by the Polish government, which wishes to retain its right to make decisions on 'moral' and 'life-defending' issues, such as abortion. The majority of EU states are concerned about the ambiguity of the statement's wording as it might be interpreted in such a way as to contravene existing European law, for instance discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. (Rzeczpospolita, p. A5) A.C.