Critics attack Giscard for ‘secret meetings’

Date: 20/06/02

By Martin Banks

VALERY Giscard d'Estaing, who is drawing up a blueprint for reforming Union institutions, has been attacked for holding 'secret' consultations with EU heads of state.

Giscard, who heads the Convention on the future of Europe, has been touring member state capitals in recent weeks, meeting prime ministers such as the UK's Tony Blair and Spain's José María Aznar.

But senior German MEP Jo Leinen, chairman of the influential constitutional affairs committee and a leading federalist, says this could undermine the work of the Convention.

'He is touring national capitals but nobody in the Convention gets to know what is discussed behind closed doors,' Leinen said.

'That suggests Giscard is engaging in secret consultations with the heads of state and governments in the large member states about crucial results in the Convention.

'It seems that, for him, the 'government' of the EU lies not with the European Commission but with the European Council.

'The president of the EU is not to be elected, according to him, by the European Parliament, but is to be nominated by the heads of states and government.

'This intergovernmental understanding is in contrast with the statements of most Convention members.

'The question must, therefore, be raised whether the Convention will be able to safeguard its own independence or will its results be determined from outside?'

Giscard's spokesman Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut denied the focus had shifted to backroom meetings with key EU leaders.

'It is wrong to say Giscard is visiting only larger member states - he's going to smaller ones as well,' said Meyer-Landrut.

'He is not holding negotiations with prime ministers but simply updating them on the work of the Convention.'

But Leinen said the Convention's timetable was putting too much emphasis on governmental points of view.

'After the summer, half of the Convention's working time will have passed,' the MEP said.

'It therefore has to finally start debating concrete text proposals. The working groups must not become proxy wars and detract attention from the role of the Convention.

'The praesidium should exercise its leadership function and present concrete texts otherwise there is a real danger that Giscard will submit a draft with some governments, the core points of which would then be impossible for the Convention to amend.'

Leinen's fears were echoed by members of the constitutional committee at its meeting on Tuesday.

French deputy Gérard Onesta said:

'It is well known that Giscard has a well-balanced ego.

'The fear is that, like Moses, he will emerge from the mountain with a tablet of, not stone, but law.'

It is not the first time 76-year-old Giscard has come under fire. He has been described as the 'day before yesterday's man' and was appointed to chair the Convention amid much bickering after French President Jacques Chirac threatened to veto any other choices.

The assembly is due to hear the views of the 'civil society': trade unions, business groups and NGOs, when it next meets in Brussels on Monday and Tuesday.

Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, who is drawing up a blueprint for reforming European Union institutions, has been attacked for holding 'secret' consultations with EU heads of state.