[autom.vertaling] Polen en Spanje dat met hulpbesnoeiingen wordt bedreigd (en)

EUOBSERVER / ROME - At the opening of intergovernmental talks on the draft Constitution in Rome, Spain's and Poland's intransigency on voting weights appeared to be threatened with financial repercussions by both Germany and France.

In separate press conferences after a initial discussion on the draft, both Gerhard Schröder and Jacques Chirac made references to the link between discussions on the EU funding and the constitution.

"[They] are two sides of the same coin", said Mr Schröder. Mr Chirac also said that there is a link between the two.

Discussions on the future of EU financial perspectives for after 2007, which will take place next year, are set to be the hardest yet with a Union of 25 member states.

Moreover, Germany is the largest net contributor to the EU budget and has been giving public signs lately that it is tired of this role.

Berlin, along with Paris, is also hugely in favour of not unravelling the balance of the draft Constitution and is furious with both Madrid and Warsaw for their fight to keep the current vote weighting system.

Both Spain's José Maria Aznar and Poland's Leszek Miller are putting up a fight not to be demoted, by virtue of the new voting weights foreseen in the Constitution, from large-to medium-sized states.

At the moment, each country has 27 votes in the Council of Ministers, while Germany, with a far bigger population, has 29 votes.

The new Treaty introduces a new and much less complicated system. Decisions would be reached with a double majority - a majority of member states representing at least 60% of the EU's population.

So far Poland and Spain have showed little inclination to back down. According to Mr Aznar in his press conference: "If you have got something to negotiate it is better to be feared".