Draft treaty to duck row over Commission

Date: 19/10/00

By Tim Jones

FRENCH presidency lawyers will produce a new draft EU treaty by the end of this month which is likely to guarantee small member states their own European Commissioner for now, but increase the number of votes wielded by large countries for the first time in four decades.

The text, which will be discussed at a meeting of Intergovernmental Conf-erence negotiators next week, is designed to put flesh on the bones of tacit accords struck at last weekend's Biarritz summit and lay the ground for a new treaty to be approved at December's Nice summit.

After a fierce row between the EU's ten smaller member states and the 'Big Five' in Biarritz, France is expected to drop its earlier plan to create a more hierarchical executive, with one Commissioner per member state - even in a 30-member EU - but with senior and junior posts. "There are realities and these must be recognised, but in no circumstances should we fall into the trap of a division between big and small countries." said French President Jacques Chirac after the summit.

Portuguese Premier Antonio Guterres' warning that the loss of a Commissioner could not be sold to small countries' parliaments was key in convincing Paris to change tack. "There is a matter of principle here and a political problem," he told European Voice. "The principle is that of equality whatever we decide to do, but the political problem is to know whether every member state should have a Commissioner or not. I think, at this stage, this is necessary and I do not see member states ratifying the treaty if this is not the case."

Diplomats expect the draft Nice Treaty to commit the EU to one Commissioner per country, but also set a numerical ceiling on the size of the executive in the event that the number of member states rises above, say, 25. The question of how to implement this could be dealt with later, although the idea of an equal rotation of Commission posts - with both big and small member states taking it in turns to forgo the right to a 'represent-ative' - appears to be gaining ground.

In return for giving up their second Commissioner, Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain expect smaller member states to be more receptive to their demands for voting rights in the Council of Ministers which better reflect their population size and economic weight.

Germany, France, the UK and Italy each have ten votes when decisions are taken by a qualified majority in the Council. Luxembourg, by contrast, has two, even though Germany's population out-numbers the Grand Duchy's 190 times and even exceeds France's by 22 million.

Diplomats say an Italian proposal to widen the range of member states' 'block votes' from the current two-to-ten to a minimum of three and maximum of 33 is winning support.

The draft treaty will be presented to top IGC negotiators at a meeting in France on 3-4 November.

French Presidency lawyers are due to produce a new draft EU treaty which is likely to guarantee small Member States their own European Commissioner for now, but increase the number of vetoes wielded by large countries for the first time in four decades. The text, which will be discussed at a forthcoming meeting of Intergovernmental Conference negotiators, is designed to put flesh on the bones of tacit accords struck at the recent Biarritz summit and lay the ground for a new treaty to be approved at the Nice summit in December 2000.