POLISH DEMANDS
Fotyga also demanded that a deal in June on a mechanism to delay EU decisions be included in the treaty, not in a separate declaration. The provision allows small groups of states, short of a blocking minority, to delay decisions for a few months.
The European Parliament and most governments want the clause to be limited in duration and not anchored in the treaty.
Poland's other demands include an increase of the number of influential advisers at the European Court of Justice from the current eight, possibly so that a Pole can be one of them, and that decisions at the European Investment Bank, the EU's lending arm, be reached by unanimity rather than by qualified majority.
Fotyga said campaigning for an early general election expected on Oct. 21 would not undermine her government's ability to reach a deal on the final treaty text next month.
"There is no reason to put forward this kind of theory," she told Reuters.
Several foreign ministers and negotiators played down the Polish issues. "The obstacles are not insurmountable," said Andrew Duff, a European Parliament observer at the negotiations.
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband opposed calls for the treaty to be put to a referendum, as demanded by opposition Conservatives and some ruling Labour Party lawmakers and trade unions, saying parliament was "the right way of doing it".
Another issue is the status of the European Central Bank. ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet wrote to Portugal last month voicing concern that the bank's independence might not be guaranteed in the treaty, which lists the ECB as one of the Union's institutions.
