[autom.vertaling] Madrid en Warshau om samen voor Nice te vechten (en)

Poland and Spain are about to launch their battle to keep the current system of voting in the Council, introduced by the Nice Treaty.

The Treaty gives both states 27 votes in the Council, only two votes fewer than the four biggest EU member states have.

The Polish and Spanish governments believe Nice to be a "very difficult compromise" which created a fair and effective decision-making system.

Spanish foreign minister Ana Palacio and her Polish counterpart Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz last week published a joint article in the Financial Times arguing that the European Convention had no mandate to revoke the Nice provisions, already backed in accession referenda around Europe.

They reiterated their main objections against the new voting system in a joint declaration agreed today (30 September) in Madrid.

Every compromise which includes the Nice system is acceptable, the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs said, according to the PAP.

Both Madrid and Warsaw sent military troops to Iraq. Ms Palacio and Mr Cimoszewicz also share a joint vision of European defence policy based on NATO.