23 May Informal European Council

Date: 29/05/1997

UNION leaders completed their one day informal European summit in Noordwijk more convinced than ever that they will end the Intergovernmental Conference and agree on a new Treaty of Amsterdam when they next meet in mid-June. Dutch Prime Minister Wim Kok, chairing the talks, described the atmosphere of the meeting as “excellent” and confirmed that all those present had greatly appreciated the opportunity to discuss a whole series of policy and institutional options for the Union. “Basically, the message is that everyone wants Amsterdam to be a success. We feel that the Treaty of Amsterdam will smooth the way for a decision on monetary union and will be a political marker for candidate countries,” he said.

FOR two of the participants - the UK's Tony Blair and Austria's Viktor Klima - it was the first time they had participated in a European summit.

But, despite his relative inexperience of EU issues, Blair was very much centre stage in the discussions. Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson echoed the views of his colleagues when he said that the British premier's presence had created “a new atmosphere” which had broken the ice. But Blair insisted that he would continue to defend British interests in the negotiations and stressed that the UK, not the Union, would determine core policies such as defence, taxation and immigration. He also warned his fellow leaders that the EU had to adapt to the needs of its people. “The Union has to refocus and shift its horizons to what really matters to people and that is jobs, the environment and crime,” he told reporters.

TAKING time out from his country's general election, French President Jacques Chirac confirmed that he was still attached to a number of changes to the Union, despite the fact that several of these have met with little support from other EU governments. He repeated Paris' view that the number of European Commissioners should be reduced from 20 to ten or 12. But faced with the refusal of small countries to give up their representation in the institution, he accepted that Amsterdam might produce a compromise and set a ceiling of 20 on the number of Commissioners.

CHIRAC also insisted that the number of votes wielded by each member state in the Council of Ministers should be changed to take account of its size and population. A joint Franco-German idea for reweighting votes, floated at the summit, surprised other participants by its timing and content. It suggested that the voting strength of the four big members should be more than doubled from ten to 25, while votes for smaller countries would also increase, but not as dramatically. Portugal, Belgium and Greece, for instance, would move from five to nine. The scheme met with little support and the Dutch presidency insisted it had not been formally tabled.

THERE was general agreement that the powers of the European Commission president should be increased. Kok told reporters: “It is important for the president of the Commission to get a very clear remit and to be confirmed by the European Parliament. The Commission president would then have a part to play in appointing the members of the Commission.”

EUROPEAN Parliament President Jose Maria Gil-Robles warned EU leaders that no attempt should be made to water down the draft treaty texts which the Dutch government had already placed on the table. He also outlined ten priorities which MEPs believe should be successfully tackled in the IGC.

These include institutional changes to ensure that decision-making is made more efficient and the Union more democratic; strengthening citizens' rights; developing EU policies on the environment, public health and social matters; and guaranteeing individuals full access to information.