KEY POINTS:
BRUSSELS - European Union foreign ministers launch formal negotiations today on a treaty to reform the bloc's institutions amid uncertainty over Poland's intentions.
Ministers will also discuss how to take forward Kosovo's bid for independence from Serbia after Russian opposition forced the West to shelve a UN resolution last week, and they will launch planning for an EU security mission in eastern Chad to help the United Nations protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region.
The Portuguese presidency of the 27-nation bloc said last week it had indications that Poland would stick to a deal on a mandate for the reform treaty agreed at an EU summit last month and not seek to reopen the key compromise on the voting system.
Portugal is hoping to rush through the legal work of turning that political deal into a treaty, aiming to conclude in mid-October, although some EU diplomats say that is ambitious.
The treaty, replacing the constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005, provides for a long-term EU president and foreign policy chief, a simpler, more democratic voting system and more say for the European and national parliaments.
A junior Polish minister was quoted on Friday as saying Warsaw's priority is not to block an agreement but to make EU decision-making easier.
The ink on the summit pact was barely dry when Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski challenged the outcome, insisting Poland had won the right for groups of countries just short of a blocking minority to postpone EU decisions for up to two years.
EU officials say the compromise meant a maximum four-month delay in decisions until the next EU summit.
The Portuguese will present a first draft of the new treaty to ministers on Monday and legal experts will then spend two days examining the text to identify potential difficulties.
The opening session of the Intergovernmental Conference will be largely ceremonial and the presidency aims to keep the talks strictly technical until early September, when foreign ministers will have a chance to raise any political problems.
That will be the test of whether Poland is prepared to risk the ire of all its EU partners by trying to reopen the voting system reform, diplomats said.
The new system is based largely on population size and will give big countries such as Germany more weight at the expense of medium-sized and smaller states, especially Poland.
EU diplomats played down the risk of other issues, such as the future of Turkey's membership talks, holding up the treaty.
They said Britain, one of Ankara's strongest supporters, wanted the treaty concluded as soon as possible to face down demands by Eurosceptics for a referendum and lay the issue to rest before a possible early general election.
Only Sweden may demand assurances that France will not press President Nicolas Sarkozy's call to change the objective of Turkey's negotiations in December before signing up to the reform treaty in October, they said.
- REUTERS
