Barnier calls for flexibility on timing of constitution changes

By Dana Spinant

Date: 11/12/03

VOTERS will "take their governments to task" in next June's European Parliament elections if EU leaders fail to adopt the constitution this weekend, Michel Barnier, the commissioner in charge of institutional affairs, has warned.

Speaking to European Voice on the eve of a make-or-break summit for Europe's historic constitution, the Frenchman declared: "The citizens are anxious about social, security and employment issues. They have invested big hopes in the European project. Europe must be workable, otherwise it will add to their anxiety and diminish their hope."

But Barnier, who represents the European Commission on the intergovernmental conference that has been haggling over draft constitution details, insisted that no consensus would be better "than a bad agreement". For him, the key to a good accord is "playing with the timing, but not the substance, of the key proposals" of the draft, drawn up over almost 18 months by the Convention on the EU's future.

For instance, the proposed 'double majority' voting system for the Council of Ministers, under which laws would require the support of a majority of member states representing 60% of the Union's population, could by introduced at a later stage, in 2011 or 2014 for example.

The Convention suggested the system should come into force in 2009. This could make the deal more palatable for Spain and Poland, which are pushing hard to retain the generous voting weights they won under the 2000 Treaty of Nice.

Flexibility on timing could also apply to the proposed slimming down of the Commission, he said, with the streamlined College being introduced in 2014, as opposed to 2009. But Barnier stressed that decisions had to be taken now, not postponed for later

As the frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations were taking place to iron out the splits between member states, Barnier forecast three likely outcomes of the summit: no agreement, a bad deal, or a good agreement. He regards the latter as a text that would be close to the Convention's draft constitution.

In the event that the leaders of the EU-15 and ten incoming states fail to agree on a text, negotiations could either continue under the Irish presidency in the first part of next year, or be suspended to give governments more time to reflect.

"I prefer this scenario to a bad agreement," the commissioner added.

For Barnier, the worst-case scenario is an agreement that represents "the lowest common denominator". A constitution that would emulate Nice on institutional matters, and keep the voting system it envisaged for the Council, would "not be workable. Nice was necessary in the short term, but we cannot function with Nice in the long run. This would be a bad result".

A good agreement would contain four key aspects to ensure the enlarged EU functions efficiently, he said: stronger EU institutions; a simpler system of voting in the Council; more decisions taken by qualified majority instead of unanimity, and freedom for more ambitious states to deepen integration in specific areas.

Barnier warned that failure to reach an agreement would risk intertwining the talks on the constitution with tortuous negotiations on the Union's multi-annual budget, which start next year. "Everybody has an interest in distinguishing between the two negotiations - it would be unwise to mix them. The Convention's text is set to be in place for 20-30 years; the financial perspectives will be adopted for seven years."