Convention on the Future of Europe: Giscard d’Estaing outlines proposals on future EU institutional architecture, April 2003

The battle for power within the future European Union got underway on 22 April 2003 when Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the President of the Convention on the Future of Europe, outlined his ideas on the EU's future institutional architecture, to the Convention's Praesdium.

The debate on institutional reform is expected to be the most controversial of all the Convention's discussions as representatives of the EU institutions and of the smaller and larger Member States share different views on the way power should be distributed in the future, although all agree that institutional reform is needed if an enlarged EU of twenty-five or more Member States is to operate successfully.

Under Giscard d'Estaing's proposals, the current rotating presidency of the Council would be replaced by the creation of a new post of President of the European Council who would serve for between two and a half years and five years. The President's main duties would be to represent the EU internationally and to chair meetings of the European Council. In an effort to appease the smaller EU Member States who fear that an EU president would favour the larger Member States Giscard d'Estaing also proposed the role of a Vice-President to support the work of the President, however this was rejected by the Convention's Praesdium.

In addition to the proposal for a permanent 'EU President' the Praesidium agreed on the following proposals to be presented to the Convention's plenary session on 24 April 2003:

• A new post of foreign minister to represent the EU abroad

• A reduction in the size of the European Commission from 25 to 15 commissioners and 15 commissioner-delegates

• The number of members of parliament to be made more proportional to the size of countries' populations

• A Congress of MEPs and MPs would be established, meeting one a year to debate the state of the EU

• The qualified majority voting system to be changed so that decisions could be taken by Member States representing more than 60 percent of EU citizens

Another of the President's proposals to create a Council bureau whose function would be to help co-ordinate the Union's activities has been 'downgraded' from a proposal to an 'option up for discussion'. Giscard d'Estaing had envisaged a seven member bureau - including the EU foreign minister and two EU leaders - which would support the EU President, however it is feared that this could become a rival executive to the European Commission.

Reaction to the proposals has been mixed. Whilst France and UK welcomed the proposal for a permanent EU President, Germany seemed far more tentative and many of the smaller Member States have openly expressed their opposition to the idea, fearing it would sway the pendulum of power too much towards the larger Member States. Having already expressed this view at the Informal European Council in Athens on 16 April 2003, where 18 of the 25 current and future members of the Union rejected the idea of a permanent president, some Member States accused the Convention of 'selective listening'.

The European Commission also vehemently criticised the President's proposals, arguing that the emphasis on intergovernmentalism threatened to:

'Damage the Community method, firmly based on an equilibrium between Council, Parliament and Commission, which has been at the heart of the success of 50 years of European integration'.

The European Commission added that the proposals appeared to go against previous discussions in the working groups and at the Athens summit and were therefore 'unlikely to foster the development of a consensus on these difficult institutional issues'.

European political parties also spoke out against the proposals. Elmar Brok, Chairman of the European People's Party group at the European Convention, rejected them outright saying:

'These proposals are unacceptable. This is the next best way to a wreck Monnet's method and hand Metternich the victory. This is purely about reducing the powers of smaller EU countries, the Commission, and the European Parliament'.

Formal reactions from the Member States and other EU institutions are expected after the proposals are debated at the Convention's Plenary session on 24 April 2003. With less than two months left before the Convention is due to present a draft constitutional treaty to the Summer European Council, the debate on institutional reform is likely to dominate the agenda.

Links:
European Commission:
	23.04.03:	Press Release: Reaction of the European Commission to the proposals for institutional reform (Convention)[IP/03/563]
	The future of the European Union - Debate
Convention on the Future of Europe:
	Homepage
European Sources Online: Financial Times:
	24.04.03:	Giscard fends off attack on plan for President
	23.04.03:	Giscard heads for confrontation over EU constitution
BBC News Online:
	24.04.03:	Battle for EU power commences
	23.04.03:	Giscard calls for EU President
EPP-ED Group:
	23.04.03:	Giscard is sealing Metternich's victory
Centre for European Policy Studies:
	The battle for power in Europe: Will the Convention get it right? [February 2003]
	Towards Effective and Accountable leadership of the European Union: Options and Guidelines for Reform [January 2003]
European Sources Online: In Focus:
	The Convention on the Future of Europe, March 2002
	Convention on the Future of Europe: Draft of Articles 1 to 16 of 'EU Constitution' unveiled, February 2003
	European Commission submits its proposals to the Convention on the Future of Europe, March 2002

Helen Bower

Compiled: Thursday, 24 April 2003

On 22 April 2003 Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the President of the Convention on the Future of Europe, outlined his ideas on the EU's future institutional architecture, to the Convention's Praesdium.