Small countries warn ‘big five’ against changing equal status

Date: 21/03/1996

By Rory Watson

THE EU's smaller countries will warn their larger colleagues next week that they will block any attempt to downgrade their EU status at the Intergovernmental Conference.

They will stress their commitment to the current broad institutional framework which puts all EU members, irrespective of size, on a basically equal footing at the European summit in Turin next Friday (29 March).

As EU leaders prepare for the formal launch of the IGC, which will negotiate improvements in the way the Union operates, fears are growing that the exercise could expose deep divisions between the 'big five' and their smaller partners.

Sweden's chief negotiator Gunnar Lund this week warned his EU colleagues that several of the institutional changes being proposed were “fairly provocative to smaller countries”.

These ideas focus on changes to the rotating six-month EU presidency, adjustments to countries' voting strengths in the Council of Ministers, a reduction in the number of Commissioners and new limits on the number of MEPs.

“It simply means that the bigger countries should have more influence at the expense of the smaller countries. That is something which we of course think is undesirable, but also badly justified,” said Lund.

Similar warnings are being voiced by other member states as they put the finishing touches to their opening IGC positions.

“Our basic principle is that the present overall balance should be maintained. We want to keep the rotating presidency and one Commissioner per member state, but we accept some movement is needed for enlargement,” explained a Portuguese diplomat.

Greece also flexed its muscles earlier this week, insisting it would not hesitate to wield its veto to safeguard its vital national interests and would demand equality of representation between EU members.

The Irish government is expected to endorse a similar position when it unveils its long-awaited White Paper on foreign policy next week. This is likely to underline Ireland's belief that the Union's very strength lies in the fact that the views of all its members are listened to and respected.

But Dublin will seek to play down any formal big/small divide by insisting that it does not seek EU alliances on the basis of a country's size and dismissing any suggestions that small and medium-sized states inevitably represent a cohesive group.

Most EU countries accept that any extension of majority voting in the Council of Ministers will need to be accompanied by some re-weighting of votes to take account of the population size of the larger countries: Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain.

But smaller states vehemently object to any moves which could effectively turn them into second class members of the Union. This explains their hostility to the recent suggestion from French European Affairs Minister Michel Barnier that the number of Commissioners could be reduced to less than a dozen.

There is similar opposition to moves to restrict the automatic right of each country to organise the rotating six-month EU presidency. Pointing to the difficulties which France and, more recently, Italy have encountered in running the presidency, smaller EU member states retort that size is no guarantee of success.

Intriguingly, the main responsibility for ensuring the smooth running of the IGC negotiations will fall on two of the Union's smaller countries - Ireland and the Netherlands. The former takes over the EU presidency on 1 July, while its Dutch successor has already made clear it aims to complete the reform process at the Amsterdam European summit it will host in June 1997.

As the final preparations for the IGC fall into place, the Italian government is still trying to secure agreement on a formula to enable the European Parliament to be associated with the unfolding negotiations. It will make a final effort when foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Monday (25 March) to broker a compromise between France and the UK, which oppose any concessions to the MEPs, and other countries, which favour granting the Parliament observer status.