Poland Supports Reference to Christianity in EU Constitution
April 5, 2004According to Jan Truszczynski, Polish deputy minister for foreign affairs, around 10 countries from the future 25 (includes current and soon-to-be members), support a reference to Christian values and traditions in the preamble of the Constitution. Truszczynski, however, admitted on Friday that this issue remains an "open but difficult" one, and that it is "difficult to image a compromise" due to the different opinions among the countries. Poland has been strongly pushing to have a reference to the Christian heritage in the text, but this has been opposed by some of the current EU states, among them France and Belgium. While addressing the issue of the Constitution talks to polish deputies, Truszczynski said that the Polish government is in favor of establishing a balance which respects both the big and small EU countries in the voting mechanisms of the council. (EUobserver.com)