Méndez de Vigo rejects IGC frustration claim

By David Cronin

Date: 20/11/03

INIGO Méndez de Vigo has rejected speculation that he resigned from the intergovernmental conference (IGC), which is negotiating the draft constitution presented by the Convention, due to frustration with its work.

The Spanish MEP told European Voice that reports that he had stepped down in protest at efforts to diminish the powers of the European Parliament were "rubbish".

Instead, he said he had reached an agreement to hand over his position as one of the assembly's two representatives on the IGC to his German colleague, Elmar Brok. The two men had emerged neck and neck in a vote held in September on who should speak for the Parliament at the intergovernmental talks.

"We went for a Duisenberg solution," Méndez de Vigo remarked, alluding to a 1998 accord by EU governments that Dutchman Wim Duisenberg would hand over his presidency of the European Central Bank to France's Jean-Claude Trichet mid-way through his term.

Nevertheless, the Spaniard reacted strongly to an attempt by EU finance ministers to narrow the Parliament's remit.

Brok and the Parliament's other IGC delegate, German Socialist Klaus Hänsch, wrote this week to Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini to complain about a suggested Ecofin amendment that would reduce the Parliament's powers to sign off the Union's €100 billion yearly budget.

"This is a red line for the Parliament," Méndez de Vigo warned. "When it comes to the Union's revenue, we understand that decisions go through the Council of Ministers. But when it comes to spending, the European Parliament should have the last word.

"This is about checks and balances."