Berlusconi bid to broker votes deal attacked

By Dana Spinant

Date: 27/11/03

SILVIO Berlusconi is under fire after trying to broker a deal on the European Union's constitution.

In an effort to win the support of Poland and Spain over proposed changes to the system of voting in the Council of Ministers, the Italian premier has hinted to his Polish counterpart, Leszek Miller, that the plans could be amended. The deal would make it easier for the two countries to block laws they do not want.

Under the "double majority" proposals, in the draft constitution drawn up by the Convention on the future of Europe, laws would be adopted if backed by half of the Union's states representing three-fifths (60%) of its population.

Madrid and Warsaw, however, want to stick to the formula agreed at Nice, under which the number of votes necessary to achieve a qualified majority would represent 62% of the Union's population (258 votes out of 345). Moreover, the Nice provisions will give Poland and Spain 27 votes - only two less than Germany, which has double their population.

Berlusconi, however, is ready to go even further than this by offering to increase the threshold from 60% to 66%, making it easier for Poland and Spain to block legislation they oppose.

His suggestion was described this week as "dubious" by a German official close to the intergovernmental conference (IGC) negotiations on a final version of the European constitution.

"This would kill the [Convention's] double majority proposal.

"Many member states would rather keep the Nice Treaty system of voting than raise the double majority threshold," the official warned.

"The new threshold would increase proportionally the risk of blockage, and would make decisions more difficult. That's not the idea behind the constitution."

Officials fear Berlusconi's offer to raise the threshold to 66% would make other countries have "second thoughts" about the double majority system.

German MEP Elmar Brok, one of two representatives from the European

Parliament on the IGC, declared that he was "absolutely against" increasing the threshold to 66%.

"Nice's problem is the complexity of calculating the qualified majority. But it was not difficult to reach this majority," he added.

Former Belgian premier Jean-Luc Dehaene, one of the two vice-presidents of the Convention, agrees with Brok. "Two-thirds is too much," he said.

A Belgian diplomat involved in the IGC talks explained: "Even though it is more complicated, and less transparent, at least Nice allows decisions to be adopted easier. Berlusconi should have thought twice before proposing to raise the double majority and thus increase the risk of blockage."

A second element of a possible deal with Poland and Spain is to delay introducing the double majority system until 2011 or 2013.

The draft constitution envisages that double majority voting, as well as new rules governing the composition of the European Commission, would enter into force in 2009.

However, Brok warns against a deal under which the double majority system would not be introduced automatically.

A third element of a compromise would be to offer the two countries more seats in the European Parliament.

"Spain and Poland undoubtedly lost out on the European Parliament at Nice," Spanish MEP Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, a member of the IGC until last week, said.

"A form of compensation could be envisaged," he added.

However, a number of MEPs have warned Silvio Berlusconi against "casino methods" of horse-trading with seats in the European Parliament.