|
Britain is happy with Germany's new proposal for a treaty to reform the European Union and is "fairly confident" that Poland will accept the new deal on the vexed issue of voting rights.
"There's a deal here, we believe it can be done. It will take as always probably a couple of hours because you have to go round the table. But we think we're within touching distance of a deal," British Prime Minister Tony Blair spokesman told reporters on friday.
"We're very satisfied," he said, adding that the deal met Britain's four "red line" conditions and saying Britain is "fairly confident" that Poland can accept the new deal on the vexed issue of voting rights.
Under the voting rights deal, there would be no change to current arrangements until 2014, followed by a transitional period until early 2017 after which the so-called "double majority" system, which Warsaw has complained about, would come into force.
"We believe that there is a growing consensus with this," the spokesman said, adding that the deal was brokered by Blair, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker and the Poles.
Asked how confident Britain was that Poland would accept the deal, he said: "We're fairly confident, but that's a matter for them."
He added that Britain does not believe the deal, if agreed, will need to be put to the British people.
"We do not believe that this requires a referendum," he said. "We believe that if there's agreement on this basis we've achieved those red lines," he added.
|
