Ierland en Polen krijgen een 'opt-out'-optie bij het Handvest van de grondrechten (en)

Two additional member states have left the door open to opt out of a charter boosting the civil and social rights of EU citizens, it has emerged from the small print contained in the recently agreed outline for a new EU treaty.

A report in today's Irish Times newspaper says that both Ireland and Poland have kept open the option of joining London, which secured a strong protocol limiting the application of the charter in the UK.

At the end of the long declaration on the charter, there is a note saying that "two delegations reserved their right to join in this Protocol."

EU officials have named the two states as Ireland and Poland.

UK prime minister Tony Blair came into the summit last week with limiting the scope of the rights charter as one of his declared "red lines."

The 54-article charter enshrines the right to strike and engage in collective bargaining as well as saying citizens are entitled to daily and weekly rest periods during work, the right to preventative health care and paid maternity leave. It also mentions the right to life and the presumption of innocence.

London particularly feared the strike clause, believing that the European Court of Justice could use the charter in legal judgements in labour law extending the EU's powers in this area.

It eventually secured a UK-flavoured protocol that reads:

"The charter does not extend the field of application of Union law beyond the powers of the Union or establish any new power or task for the Union, or modify powers and tasks as defined by the treaties," says the text negotiated by UK leader Tony Blair.

It continues: "For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in the charter creates justifiable rights applicable to the UK except in so far as the UK has provided for such rights in its national law."

Up until now Britain alone had been getting flak for what critics see is a de facto opt out of the charter.

Jo Leinen, German socialist MEP and head of the parliament's constitutional affairs committee, said on Monday (25 June) that British citizens are "second class citizens in terms of protection of their rights."

The Irish Times notes that prime minister Bertie Ahern made no mention of Dublin's negotiation of a possible "opt out" from the charter at the final press briefing after the summit, but did say the charter would be big selling point in the country's planned referendum on the resulting "Reform Treaty" next year.

For its part, Poland also secured a special declaration saying the charter does not affect the right of member states to legislate "in the sphere of public morality [and] family law.

What EU leaders agreed before the weekend is a draft mandate for the areas from the original rejected EU constitution that can be re-opened. This is now to be negotiated at technical level eventually resulting in a treaty - at the latest by the end of the year.