The president of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, spoke good sense when he declared that negotiations on reorganizing the European Union can't start from scratch every time a member state gets a new government.

But that is exactly what Poland's President Lech Kaczynski and Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski are trying to do on the eve of a critical summit meeting with their blustery demands that Poland retain almost as big a vote in the European Union as far-more populous Germany. If they persevere, they would block adoption of a critically needed constitutional treaty and plunge the European Union into crisis. As Barroso further warned, the biggest loser could be Poland and other new members who draw large subsidies from Brussels.

The attempt to salvage the best bits of the old constitutional treaty defeated two years ago by referendums in France and the Netherlands is being led by Germany's chancellor, Angela Merkel. Merkel has demonstrated -- most recently at the Group of 8 summit meeting -- that she is skilled at out-maneuvering colleagues more intent on strutting before domestic constituencies. Wisely, she has pressed for the removal of all the trappings of a European federation (including the misnomer "constitution") from the new treaty, thus lifting the fear among many Europeans that members states were increasingly surrendering their sovereign powers to Brussels.

Instead, the new draft focuses on reforms needed to make the expanded Union more effective and transparent: a longer presidential term, a more unified foreign policy, a charter of fundamental rights and fewer opportunities for national vetoes.

In her campaign for the treaty, Merkel has found an energetic ally in France's new president, Nicolas Sarkozy. But Britain's lame-duck prime minister, Tony Blair, is being far less helpful, objecting to changes that he says could encroach on Britain's foreign policy, common law or labor and social legislation. We hope that as one of his last acts in office before his successor Gordon Brown takes over next week, Blair will be open to creative compromise, and that together Merkel, Sarkozy and Blair will block Poland's efforts to scuttle the much needed reforms.