Mistakes could delay Poland's EU constitution

Some 40 mistakes in the Polish version of the proposed new European Union Constitution could delay progress towards its ratification, say officials.

Pawel Swieboda, head of the ministry's European department, acknowledged that correction work could cause parliamentary delays.

"The government wanted to submit the (constitution) treaty at the beginning of February but we'll now have to wait a further three to four months," he admitted to the newspaper Rzeczpospolita.

Kazimierz Ujazdowski, of the centre-right Law and Justice party, responded with: "The Polish government has signed a treaty containing flagrant errors which make it impossible to implement the treaty".

The deputy quoted one passage concerning voting in which a simple majority was apparently confused with a qualified majority.

Bronislaw Komorowski of the liberal opposition Civic Platform, tipped as favourite in the next general election, said parliament could not base itself on a constitution text that was not faithful to the original.

The EU constitution will be put to a national referendum in Poland. This poll will be prepared by parliament after an examination of the country's own national constitution, or basic law.

The referendum date has not yet been fixed. President Aleksander Kwasniewski and the left-of-centre government say it will be in the autumn, but the right-wing opposition wishes it put back to 2006.

Source:
EU business