Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek pledged on Monday not to block talks on reviving a European Union constitution, but warned negotiations could drag on as his government may need time to debate a compromise.
The Czech Republic, Britain and Poland are widely regarded as the least enthusiastic among the EU's 27 members towards a new charter or treaty to replace the constitution rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005. "We definitely do not intend to block anything," Topolanek told a news conference after talks with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
"I stressed in our opinion quality is more important than time ... We are quite reluctant to set deadlines," he added, echoing the view of Poland's conservative government. The statement may bode ill for plans of EU president Germany to have the new treaty approved this year or early in 2008 so it could take effect before the next elections to the European Parliament in mid-2009.
The constitution provides for a simpler voting system, a longer-term president of the EU and a foreign minister to enable an enlarged 27-member bloc to function effectively. Topolanek said talks might go faster than he anticipated if EU governments agreed to discuss a slimmed-down reform compared to the rejected text, a view already expressed by Britain.
"It is also likely that this process might accelerate and the member states will eventually agree on a reduced document acceptable for everyone," he said. Barroso pressed Topolanek to play a constructive role in the constitutional debate, warning that failure to revive the treaty might divide and weaken the EU.
"The risk we face in Europe is not over-centralisation, it is not a danger of a super-state ..., the risk today could be kind of fragmentation if we cannot achieve some common approach to the institutional problem," he said. His statement echoed concern expressed by some EU officials that unless the bloc agrees on the charter a group of countries may decide to move ahead with integration faster than others.
Some analysts say areas in which some states might want to integrate faster than others may include justice and home affairs, taxation or, possibly, turning the eurozone into a more political union.
Topolanek was to meet Nato Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer later on Monday for talks expected to focus on a missile defence shield, part of which the United States wants to build in the Czech Republic and Poland.