Applicants demand a seat at next IGC talks

Date: 28/09/00

By Simon Taylor

Leading applicants for EU membership are seeking assurances that they will have a say in the next round of treaty reforms even if they have not joined the Union by the time fresh changes are agreed.

Candidate countries are becoming increasingly worried about calls from some EU member states for a new set of negotiations to be launched after the Nice summit in December to deal with longer-term issues relating to the Union's future.

The idea of holding yet another Intergovernmental Conference by 2004, which was first suggested by German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, has now won the support of Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato. But Czech Ambassador to the EU Libor Secka warned that fixing a target date for the next treaty reform talks would send a worrying signal to applicant countries. "Setting 2004 for the next IGC implies that there will be no enlargement before 2004. Member states should explain there is no new obstacle to enlargement," he said.

Secka added that that if applicant countries were not members of the Union by the time the next IGC began, they should nevertheless be fully involved in discussions on any treaty changes. This view has been echoed by Polish diplomats.

The candidates' stance has won the backing of Dutch State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Dick Benschop. "If another IGC is held in 2004 or thereabouts, the applicant countries with which accession negotiations have then been concluded should definitely be invited to participate," he said.

Other member states say they agree that there will have to be another IGC in the coming years to examine longer-term issues, but are adamant a new round of treaty reforms should not delay the EU's expansion. "This is the IGC for enlargement. The next IGC should not be a precondition for enlargement," said one negotiator.

Diplomats also say Schröder's call for the Nice Treaty to stipulate which issues should be tackled by member states at the next IGC has won little support.

Several countries are also opposed to drawing up a legally binding constitution for the EU, as proposed by Germany. In addition, the UK and the Netherlands are sceptical about Berlin's call for a strict division of power between Union institutions and national and regional governments.

"A clear division of responsibilities between the member states and the EU is of great importance but it is necessary to guard against an unduly rigid division which could paralyse integration or even undo it," said Benschop.

Schröder's call for a "catalogue of competencies" is seen as a way of answering the demands made by Germany's regional states for powers to be clawed back from the EU institutions. Member states also want to examine ways of making treaty changes easier to agree during the next set of negotiations.

Leading applicants for EU membership are seeking assurances that they will have a say in the next round of treaty reforms even if they have not joined the Union by the time fresh changes are agreed.