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| Poland to sign EU treaty in days | Poland to sign EU treaty in days |
| (21 minutes later) | |
| Poland's President Lech Kaczynski will sign the EU's controversial Lisbon Treaty on Sunday, a top aide has said. | Poland's President Lech Kaczynski will sign the EU's controversial Lisbon Treaty on Sunday, a top aide has said. |
| The Polish parliament has already approved the treaty, and of the 27 EU member states only Poland and the Czech Republic are yet to ratify Lisbon. | The Polish parliament has already approved the treaty, and of the 27 EU member states only Poland and the Czech Republic are yet to ratify Lisbon. |
| Mr Kaczynski, a Eurosceptic, had said he would wait for the Irish voters' verdict before signing the treaty. | Mr Kaczynski, a Eurosceptic, had said he would wait for the Irish voters' verdict before signing the treaty. |
| Ireland backed the treaty in a second referendum on 2 October. Lisbon is aimed at streamlining EU institutions. | Ireland backed the treaty in a second referendum on 2 October. Lisbon is aimed at streamlining EU institutions. |
| "The president keeps his word. He said he will sign the treaty with no delays if the Irish say 'yes'. On Sunday he will sign the treaty," presidential aide Aleksander Szczyglo told Poland's TVN 24 channel. | |
| Unlike Mr Kaczynski, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and his centre-right government strongly support Lisbon. | |
| EU leaders are anxious to get the treaty fully ratified this year - well before UK elections next spring, which could see a triumph for Conservative leader David Cameron. Many in his party oppose Lisbon and are demanding a referendum on it. | |
| EU governments see the treaty as fundamental to the 27-nation bloc's future success. Without it, they argue, the EU's decision-making processes will remain slow and cumbersome, because they date back to when the EU consisted of only 15 nations. | |
| Opponents see Lisbon as part of a federalist agenda that threatens national sovereignty. |