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June 23, 2007

EU Leaders Reach Agreement on Treaty Guidelines
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=17EB53F:A6F02AD83191E1600D08FFF6491B1D4D9574F7DCC14957C0 Treaty will replace
draft constitution rejected by Dutch, French voters in 2005 Leaders of
the European Union say they have reached an agreement on crafting a
new EU treaty.







French President Nicolas Sarkozy gives the thumbs up as he leaves an
EU summit in Brussels, 23 Jun 2007The agreement was announced early
Saturday in Brussels by European heads of state after an all-night
round of negotiations. The new guidelines will provide a benchmark on
crafting a new EU treaty, which will replace a draft constitution
rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005.

The EU intends to have a treaty completed by the end of the year, with
final ratification by all 27 member states by 2009.

The deal was reached after two days of acrimonious talks. Negotiations
were nearly scuttled after Poland rejected a compromise package on EU
voting rules that Warsaw says gives big countries too much clout.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski eventually





Angela Merkelagreed to a plan that delays the voting rules until 2017.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chaired the meeting, threatened
to begin treaty negotiations without Poland's consent.

Mr. Kaczynski had angered European leaders with remarks that his
country deserved extra consideration because of the suffering it
endured at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War II.

Earlier Friday, the leaders agreed to combine the positions of the
EU's foreign policy chief, currently held by Javier Solana, and
external relations commissioner - a job now held by Benita
Ferrero-Waldner. The new combined position will be referred to as
"high representative of the European Union."

Britain also retained certain rights on police and judicial affairs,
while French President Nicolas Sarkozy persuaded his counterparts to
drop a reference in the treaty to "free and undistorted competition,"
in an effort to ease French voters' fears that the charter would not
protect workers.

Some information for this report provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.