Poland is showing signs of softening its resistance to a new draft European Union treaty, on the eve of a crucial EU summit.
Germany, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is expected to present the new document to the summit in Brussels Thursday and Friday.
Warsaw has threatened to veto the new draft, unless the rest of the trading bloc agrees to changes that would link the voting clout of each member-country to its population.
But Wednesday, Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski told Germany's Bild newspaper that Poland only wants the remaining EU countries to authorize a debate about the way EU votes are counted.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned Tuesday that blocking the new treaty could undermine the grouping's credibility and cost countries financially.
He also said that failure to agree on a new charter will undermine the structures by which richer EU countries provide financial assistance to poorer ones.
The new treaty is to replace a draft constitution rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters.