Dutch delay over treaty details

Date: 15/05/1997

By Rory Watson

FEARS that the EU could become a political football in France's general election are thwarting Dutch plans to unveil a complete new draft Union treaty this month.

With governments still divided over key institutional changes and the Union's future security and defence role, the Netherlands is reluctant to show its hand too far in advance of the mid-June Amsterdam summit designed to bring the EU treaty negotiations to a close.

This caution is preventing the presidency from capitalising fully on the more open approach towards the Union now being displayed by the UK's new Labour government.

“The Dutch presidency will have to be very careful not to let the treaty become a punchball in France so it will probably err on the side of caution when it comes to presenting the final draft, particular in the key areas which remain unresolved,” said Dutch Liberal MEP Gijs de Vries this week after a meeting between Dutch European Affairs Minister Michiel Patijn and European Parliament political group leaders in Strasbourg.

The Netherlands has already indicated that a handful of institutional questions will be left open when Intergovernmental Conference negotiators gather in Maastricht tomorrow (16 May) for a two-day meeting.

“We do not expect the final draft treaty to emerge before the first week of June, although the vast bulk of the text will be handed to IGC representatives this weekend. But various institutional issues will be left blank and will only be settled at the Amsterdam summit,” said one diplomat.

The issues to be put to EU leaders all raise sensitive questions about national sovereignty, the balance between the Union's larger and smaller member states, and the extent to which some countries can cooperate more closely in particular policy areas.

In addition to deciding on which issues should be determined by majority vote rather than unanimity in future, EU leaders will also have to agree in Amsterdam on whether to increase the voting power of the five biggest member states in the Council of Ministers, while reducing their share of European Commissioners from two to one.

Before releasing a complete draft treaty, the Dutch hope that meetings of EU foreign ministers in The Hague on Tuesday (20 May) and of Union leaders three days later in Noordwijk will give a clearer idea of how existing differences can be bridged.

Further indications may emerge from a meeting of EU Christian Democrat leaders in Brussels on Wednesday (21 May), when the German, Spanish, Irish, Belgian, Italian and Luxembourg premiers will attempt to refine their strategy for Amsterdam.