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Merkel urges EU to compromise on draft constitution

German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged all EU members to show willingness to compromise on the future of the bloc's constitution at a tricky upcoming summit.

Merkel spoke on Saturday before a meeting with Polish President Lech Kaczynski, whose country's objections to proposed changes in the EU voting system are a major obstacle to a deal at the summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday.

Merkel, whose country holds the EU presidency, wants to launch new talks with clear instructions on how to revise the draft constitution and have it ready before the next European elections in 2009.

Merkel and Kaczynski smiled and shook hands for photographers before their talks at a government guest house in Meseberg, outside Berlin, but they made no comment.

"For [the timetable] to be agreed on, readiness to compromise on the part of everyone will be necessary," Merkel said earlier Saturday in her weekly video podcast. "We are working on it and thank many member states for pursuing the same goal."

"I hope we succeed in agreeing on this timetable next week and laying a foundation to get a renewed treaty, with which Europe will recover its ability to act," she said.

Merkel said Europeans expect leaders to address their problems, ensure prosperity and growth and make sure that Europe speaks together in helping solve international issues.

"We need a new contractual basis for this, but we also must not devote our attention to ourselves for too long," she said.

Merkel hopes EU members can agree on a scaled-down version of the draft constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, and has tried to narrow the debate to a few key issues. She hopes to keep hard-won agreements that make it easier for the EU to make decisions without a requirement for unanimity.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende on Saturday and they agreed that an accord on a new treaty is needed at next week's summit, Sarkozy's spokesman David Martinon said.

The two leaders "agree to favor the solution of a simplified treaty that would not have the character of a European constitution," Martinon said.

Polish objections have become a major stumbling block, with Warsaw threatening to veto a deal on the charter's future because of changes to the voting system that it argues would seriously cut its power.
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