Constitution will fall apart if talks fail again, says premier

By Dana Spinant

Date: 12/02/04

GUY Verhofstadt, Belgium's prime minister, has warned that failure to reach agreement on the European constitution could "make it fall into pieces".

Speaking exclusively to European Voice, the Flemish Liberal (VLD) leader, who is tipped as a possible successor to European Commission President Romano Prodi, said that "if a new attempt is made to adopt the constitution, we must be sure that we succeed. Otherwise, everything would fall apart".

But he also warned that unless EU leaders strike a deal on the historic charter this year, the creation of a "core Europe" group to advance European integration may become unavoidable.

"Reinforced cooperation on a large number of areas would be considered if it is impossible to find an agreement in 2004," he said, but stressed that this would only happen "if there is no other possibility for advancing".

"If it is possible to go forward all together, that would be ideal," he said.

The Belgian premier had previously raised the possibility of a core Europe group in a speech at Berlin's Humboldt University last November, when he called for a "federation within the European Union".

Verhofstadt has since toned down his position: "We want to give a chance to the Irish EU presidency to unblock the negotiations," he explained.

As for what could be the common agenda of such a group, Verhofstadt is quick to respond: "Everything which is in the draft constitution."

The participants could, for instance, deepen cooperation in justice and home affairs, foreign and security matters, on defence, or enhance coordination of economic policies.

But their room for manoeuvre would be hampered, because they could not, on their own, apply the institutional reforms or innovations proposed by the draft constitution, such as the creation of a post of EU foreign affairs minister or a reduction in the number of commissioners.

Verhofstadt points outs that such "pioneer groups" should be open to any other EU members that would like to join at a later stage.

However, he side-steps the question of whether the future Commission president should come from the largest party in the European Parliament, as the European People's Party, currently the assembly's biggest group, insists. (Such a policy would kill off any hopes Verhofstadt might have of landing the top job.)

He declares: "We cannot complicate the life of the Irish EU presidency," adding "the aim is to choose somebody who is able to get things moving".

Asked whether he is a candidate for the hot seat in Brussels, Verhostadt replies with his trademark large smile: "I already have a job."

But he is putting his performance on EU matters to the "people's judgement" by standing in the next elections for the European Parliament as head of the VLD list in June.

"There are no other elections where you can submit the European policy that you pursued to the vote. There are no elections for the European Council, the only such occasion are the European Parliament elections," he explains.

The Belgian hopes that the upcoming European elections, which will "define the balance of power between the Parliament's political forces", will be fought on truly European issues such as enlargement, the constitution, the euro and the economic situation in the EU.

"In comparison to previous elections, this time we have no shortage of subjects on which people would like to express their position," he insists.

He hopes that Turkey's desire to join the Union, another "sensitive subject" for the electoral campaign, will be discussed calmly, ahead of the crucial decision before the end of the year on whether accession talks with Ankara will be opened.

Finally, 50-year-old Verhofstadt favours the EU being financed in future by "direct Community funding".

"I avoid saying "a European tax", as I don't want the press scaring the readers away," he smiles.

Unless the EU is financed directly by citizens or firms, there would always be debates about net payers and net beneficiaries, said the premier.

The latest row on the issue was sparked when the leaders of Germany, France, the UK, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands, all net payers, wrote to Prodi in December, demanding that the Union's budget should be capped at 1% of gross national income until 2013.

Verhoftsadt said he was confident a balanced agreement would be found to enable the EU to meet its future tasks.

Interview with the Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt.