Institutional issues enter the spotlight

Date: 03/04/1997

EU FOREIGN ministers will this weekend consider far-reaching plans to reduce the number of European Commissioners and extend the use of majority voting in Union decision-making.

The Dutch presidency, pressing to complete the Intergovernmental Conference on treaty reform by mid-June, is keen to bring key institutional questions to the forefront of the negotiations for the first time, despite EU governments' reluctance to reveal their hands on such sensitive issues of national sovereignty.

Dutch negotiators accept that any final deal will involve a set of interlinking trade-offs which are unlikely to emerge before the closing stages of the IGC. But they plan to use the informal ministerial meeting opening in Noordwijk on Sunday (6 April) to sketch out possible solutions.

The Dutch intend to canvass opinion on reducing the number of decisions requiring unanimous approval by member states. They have already tried to counter the opposition the initiative will provoke by suggesting that unanimity would remain the rule for any policies with constitutional or budgetary implications.

In very cautious language, they have also suggested that almost 20 other areas, ranging from the environment to the appointment of national members to various EU bodies, “could form a working basis for examining a possible extension” of majority voting.

Similarly, the latest Dutch paper on institutional reform will take on board demands from the Union's larger members that they should be given extra votes in the Council of Ministers.

But, although observers believe the eventual compromise will involve one extra vote for Spain and two each for Germany, France, Italy and the UK, the Dutch will avoid committing themselves to specific figures.

Foreign ministers will also be under pressure to respond to the European Commission's proposal that no member state should be allowed more than one appointee to the institution.