Paris/Warsaw - French President Nicolas Sarkozy will meet the Dalai Lama in Poland next month, but Poland's president will not be available for talks on the EU's stalled reform treaty, officials said Thursday.

Sarkozy, whose country holds the EU's six-month presidency until December 31, is to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader at a December 6 event celebrating 25 years since former Solidarity leader Lech Walesa received the Nobel Peace Prize, officials in Paris said.

When the Dalai Lama visited France last summer, Sarkozy declined to meet him to avoid offending China. That is why the Tibetan leader did not want to meet Sarkozy in France now, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama said.

Sarkozy had threatened to boycott the Beijing Olympics over China's human rights record, notably in Tibet, but he attended in the end.

Sarkozy had been expected to meet Polish President Lech Kaczynski on December 6 to discuss the Lisbon Treaty. But the Polish president's office said Thursday that he will be visiting Asia.

The euro-sceptic Kaczynski has been hesitant to sign the Lisbon Treaty after Irish voters rejected it in a referendum, but he recently said Poland will not be an "obstacle" in moving it ahead.

Kaczynski "is convinced that he will meet" meet Sarkozy at a later date, his chief of staff Michal Kaminski told the Polish Press Agency (PAP).

"From the beginning we've told the French side that unfortunately December 6 falls on the date President Lech Kaczynski will be visiting Asia," Kaminski told PAP.

"For diplomatic reasons, it would be very hard to change, since the visit will include three countries."

Instead, Sarkozy will meet Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and eight other Central and East European leaders in Gdansk, Poland, on the day to discuss efforts to bridge disputes between EU countries over how to fight global warming.

Poland and other countries in the ex-communist region are seeking changes in a European Commission proposal for cutting emissions, as the struggles to find a common approach for UN talks over the next year on curbing greenhouse gas emissions. (dpa)