Poland will not ratify the European Union's reform treaty unless Ireland manages to overcome its own voters' opposition and also approves the charter, Polish President Lech Kaczynski said today.
Mr Kaczynski, a Eurosceptic, said he could not accept attempts by other EU states to bully Ireland into approving the treaty, rejected by its voters in a June referendum.
"If Ireland ratifies the treaty Poland will do so too," he told Polish public television in an interview.
"Poland will not act as a brake (on the EU) because if Ireland ratifies the treaty Poland will ratify it too. But we have to create a situation in which the Irish people will do this of their own free will, not under duress," Kaczynski said.
Pressed on when he might sign the treaty, Mr Kaczynski said: "When it will no longer be a problem and it will no longer be a problem when we know that all (EU) countries ratify the treaty."
Mr Kaczynski shocked the EU yesterday when he said in a newspaper interview that signing the treaty now was "pointless".
Poland's parliament ratified the treaty in April but it cannot come into force without the president's signature.