Scots premier calls for ‘fix-it’ body to close EU-citizen gap

Date: 13/06/02

By Martin Banks

EUROPEAN leaders have been urged to set up a new 'fix-it' body to ensure that the EU is not remote from its citizens.

Speaking after meeting members of the Convention, Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell called for its final recommendations to include the creation of a new 'subsidiarity' council.

The body would give an authoritative view on which level of government should be charged with enacting particular areas of EU law before it is adopted.

Its composition, he suggested, could include members of national and regional parliaments.

It should also be small in number and take quick decisions, ensuring that bodies such as the 129-member Scottish Parliament are left free to frame legislation that best meets its own needs.

One of the key issues being considered by the Convention is how to make the principle of subsidiarity - which holds that decisions should be taken at the appropriate EU, national or regional level - more effective in an enlarged Union.

McConnell said: 'It is in the interests of all the people of Europe that we ensure the EU is the dynamic motor of peace, progress and prosperity in the 21st century.

'The new subsidiarity council would be able to stop the EU from interfering in areas better handled by a more local level.

'We need to ensure that the drive to devolve legislative power within member states is not negated by a drift towards centralised decision-making within the EU.'

McConnell, who is in effect Scotland's prime minister, was speaking after meeting Jean-Luc Dehaene, deputy chairman of the Convention, which last week discussed the role of national parliaments in Europe's future.

Meanwhile, Lamberto Dini, who represents the Italian parliament on the Convention, told the plenary that deputies should be prevented from sitting in both national assemblies and the European Parliament.

And he added: 'In every revision of treaties since Maastricht, there has been discussion on whether a third chamber should be created.'

'This should be rejected because it would make an already complex legislative process even more cumbersome.'

European leaders have been urged by Scotland's First Minister Jack McConnell to set up a new body to ensure that the EU is not remote from its citizens.