Small accession countries battle to fill remaining praesidium slot

Date: 11/04/02

By Martin Banks

OFFICIALS from three small candidate countries were this week furiously lobbying behind the scenes to win the 13th place on the praesidium - the core group driving the Convention on the future of Europe.

One representative from three accession states, Slovenia, Slovakia and Lithuania, will be chosen on Monday (15 April) for the final place on the steering committee.

The praesidium will shape the agenda for the forum, chaired by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.

The three candidates are Alvydas Medalinskas of Lithuania, Lojze Peterle of Slovenia and Irena Belohorska of Slovakia.

All are members of their respective national parliaments.

The contest is likely to be decided by a secret ballot of the 26 representatives of the candidate countries on the Convention.

Their selection came as something of a surprise as larger candidate countries, such as Hungary and Poland, had been expected to fill the additional place on the praesidium.

But Jozef Oleksy, a former prime minister of Poland, said this week that his country would not contest the post. 'We did not fight for a place for Poland because we know that the smaller candidate countries have ambitions and we did not want to block them,' said Oleksy, a Convention member.

The absence of anyone on the praesidium from the candidate countries was one of the criticisms made of Giscard when the convention was launched on 28 February.

The outcome of Monday's vote is keenly awaited. An EU insider said the Slovakian candidate is expected to garner a lot of support as there are currently only 16 women on the whole convention.

But the Lithuanian candidate - a Liberal - could also attract votes as the forum is dominated by members of the two biggest political groups in the European Parliament.

'You can be sure there will be a lot of frenetic lobbying behind the scenes in the next few days,' Olesky said.

• The Convention next meets in Brussels on 15 April.

Officials from three small candidate countries are competing for the final place on the steering committee which drives the Convention on the Future of Europe.