Source:
The TimesPhilip Webster and David Charter in Brussels
Desperate attempts to forge a deal on the future of Europe were overshadowed last night by an astonishing demand for the voting system to reflect Polish population losses caused by the Nazi invasion in 1939.
Polish leaders said the proposed EU voting formula, based on population, disadvantaged their country because it had still to recover from the millions lost during the Second World War.
The latest intervention from Poland, regarded with Britain as the main obstacle to a deal tonight in Brussels, was regarded as a move to add to pressure on Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, who is anxious to crown her country’s presidency of the EU with an agreement she can sell at home.
The Polish Prime Minister said the voting system hurt his country because of its war losses: “If Poland had not had to live through the years of 1939-45, Poland would today be looking at the demographics of a country of 66 million.” Its population is 38 million.
Read more:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1969332.ece
OK......no polish jokes.....but......