The Sejm voted 375-14 with 13 abstentions to pass a resolution on 11 December calling on the government to defend the Treaty of Nice at the European Council meeting in Brussels on 12-13 December, Polish media reported. "The system of qualified voting in the European Union Council established by the Treaty of Nice of 11 December 2000 remains the best guarantee of implementing the principle of solidarity inside the European Union. The Sejm of the Polish Republic calls on the [Polish] Council of Ministers to defend this system effectively," the resolution reads.

Polish Television reported the same day that Prime Minister Leszek Miller will lead the Polish delegation to the summit despite his injuries from a helicopter crash last week. "We are resolved to seek solutions that could be accepted by every state participating in the conference," Miller said of the upcoming summit. "We are open to every rational and substantive discussion, to every rational argument."

(RFE/RL 12.xii.03)