Poland can accept EU voting system with changes

European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso warned the Poles on Tuesday they risked losing money and support if they blocked a deal to reform the EU's institutions.

Speaking for the 18 member states who have ratified the constitution, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker vowed not to let sceptics gut the treaty of its substance.

"I am very disturbed that the views of those who signed the treaty but did not ratify it are getting more attention than the perspectives of those who did ratify it," he told the German daily Die Welt in an interview to be published on Thursday.

Diplomats said Britain made a last-minute push to shrink the role, powers and staff of a future EU foreign minister.

A diplomat present at a meeting of personal representatives of EU leaders on Tuesday said Britain demanded a proposed EU foreign minister, whose job title would be downgraded, should not chair monthly meetings of member states' foreign ministers.

It also insisted a planned EU foreign service be entirely inter-governmental and not include the 3,500-strong external services of the European Commission, the EU's executive body.

Nor would the EU foreign minister be allowed to speak on behalf of the bloc at the United Nations, except with the permission of U.N. Security Council members, such as Britain.

(additional reporting by Noah Barkin and Dave Graham in Berlin, Marcin Grajewski and Ingrid Melander in Brussels, and Adrian Croft in London)