Worth dying for?

A week before the EU summit to be held this Friday, Poland was still determined to derail the proceedings if negotiations over the EU's voting system were not extended. "The square root or death," declared Prime Minister Jarosław Kaczyński, referring to the so-called square-root voting system which Poland advocates.

During the upcoming summit EU leaders are to decide which matters will be further negotiated by the inter-government conference charged with working out a new treaty for the EU by the end of the year. The voting system is not in the agenda to be negotiated further, meaning the system adopted in the old EU Constitution proposal will be valid. This double majority system, supported by the German Presidency and officially by 24 other member states, stipulates that decisions in the EU require the support of at least 55 percent of the EU member states, representing at least 65 percent of the population.

By contrast, Poland's proposal says that voting should be decided by the square root of each country's population. This system favors the middle-sized countries, like Poland or Spain, as well as the smaller states, unlike the double majority system, which is beneficial to larger countries. Polish politicians also claim that their system is more democratic as it gives each EU citizen relatively similar voting power.

The government can count on broad political support in Poland for its stand. Last Friday the Sejm passed a resolution supporting the government's position in the EU treaty negotiations. A total of 317 deputies voted in favor, 23 abstained and only 35 were against.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy visited Warsaw last week to try to convince Poland not to isolate itself over the voting system row. "I do not judge Poland's stand, but try to understand it," he said, adding that he hopes a compromise can be reached at the summit. Although he didn't support Poland's position, he promised to call German Chancellor Angela Merkel and try to convince her to take Polish arguments into account. When asked if he would support a Polish motion to put the voting system into the negotiation agenda, he replied that for the summit to be a success "every opinion needs to be considered, at least partially."

Sarkozy's visit brought little change to Poland's stand. "I see no reason why Poland should lose the most," President Lech Kaczyński declared last Friday. He was due to meet Merkel in an effort to resolve the voting argument.