Convention faces ‘daunting’ challenge to find compromise

Date: 27/06/02

By Martin Banks

SENIOR figures on the future of Europe Convention admit that they face a 'daunting challenge' to draw together the multitude of proposals they have received on reforming the EU.

Views on the EU's future have poured in - from the Union's leaders, the European institutions, national representatives and civil society. But in many cases the ideas put forward appear totally at odds.

For instance, while Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac favour a more powerful Council of Ministers headed by a long-term president, European Commission leader Romano Prodi wants to give his executive a greater say, especially over foreign policy. MEPs, meanwhile, are anxious that the Parliament is not sidelined in the battle being waged over who should run the EU.

Somehow, the 105-strong Convention has to make sense of all the competing proposals if it is to produce a draft constitution next year.

Speaking at this week's meeting, Giuliano Amato, the former Italian prime minister, described Prodi's recent proposal as 'interesting' but added that it, along with others, was no more than a contribution to the overall debate.

German MEP Klaus Hänsch, a member of the Convention's praesidium, described the many position papers received as 'useful', but added: 'The crucial problem we face is to incorporate all these various proposals into one coherent text.

'This is a daunting challenge but one which I hope we can rise to.'

His comments were echoed by Gianfranco Fini, the Italian deputy prime minister, who told European Voice: 'We have made some progress in the Convention but still have many problems to solve. At the end of the day, we will have to strike a balance between the various forces which are pulling in different directions. A compromise is almost inevitable.'

He agreed with the view expressed by Peter Hain, the UK Europe minister, who said: 'The debate is getting more exciting but the thing we must not do is engage in an exercise of navel-gazing with the EU institutions simply becoming obsessed with their relationship with each other.'

Senior figures on the future of Europe Convention admit that they face a 'daunting challenge' to draw together the multitude of proposals they have received on reforming the EU.

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