‘Yellow card’ wins support

Date: 12/10/00

By Simon Taylor

EU GOVERNMENTS are moving towards agreement on a 'yellow card' warning system to avoid a repeat of this year's clash between Austria and the rest of the Union over the far-right's rise to power.

In discussions on reforming the EU treaty this week, most countries were in favour of an easier procedure for dealing with member states which fail to live up to the Union's core values on democracy and human rights.

But most delegates argued that wayward governments should be given formal warnings rather than face sanctions. "Most said they did not want to impose measures because that is politically difficult. But they are happy to see member states being given a warning if they are in danger of a breach on human rights," said one.

The proposed changes are designed to establish more workable procedures to deal with future conflicts like the one which erupted over Austria this year when its 14

EU partners imposed sanctions on

Vienna in protest at the inclusion of Jörg Haider's far-right Freedom Party in the government. The penalties were lifted last month after a committee of wise men warned that they were fuelling anti-Union sentiment in Austria.

Under Article 7 of the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty, governments must agree unanimously that a member state has committed a "serious and persistent breach" of the Union's core values before taking a decision on whether to suspend its voting rights. This means that the member state involved can block attempts to put it under pressure to change its policies.

Diplomats predict that although the details of the planned changes will not be agreed until EU leaders meet at the Nice summit in December, the final system will be very close to two proposals tabled by Portugal and the European Commission.

During its Union presidency in the first half of this year, Lisbon argued that a decision on whether a member state had failed to live up to the bloc's democratic values must have the support of nine-tenths of the EU's members, while the Commission has called for a two-thirds threshold. The European Parliament would also be consulted on whether issuing a formal warning was justified.

The UK, Denmark, Ireland and Germany are still opposed to making major changes to the existing rules, maintaining that the current system is adequate to deal with any future problems. But diplomats believe that London and Berlin will drop their reservations in return for concessions in other areas of the Intergovernmental Conference negotiations.

EU governments are moving towards agreement on a 'yellow card' warning system to avoid a repeat of the recent clash between Austria and the rest of the Union over the far-right's rise to power. In discussions on reforming the EU treaty, most countries were in favour of an easier procedure for dealing with Member States which fail to live up to the Union's core values on democracy and human rights.