2007-06-22

"Reform Treaty"

Word has it that Merkel and company wanted to call it the "Vitally Important Treaty Full of Much Needed Improvements That Won't Require Any Referendums", but that wouldn't have fit in headlines.

In more reliable news (fi), prime ministers from the Nordic and Baltic countries held their own meeting just before the summit began, in which they agreed that none of them would accept Poland's demands re voting rules. (Apparently Finland's voting power would be about the same under both the double majority and the square root schemes.) On Thursday evening Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen said he was somewhat pessimistic in his expectations, because no rapprochement had occurred.

The text of the Draft IGC Mandate can be perused here (link via Alex Stubb's blog (fi)). According to (fi) Vanhanen, "We have some demands for changes, but in the main Germany's proposal is such that Finland is prepared to accept it."

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