Finns to tackle key institutional issues left out of Amsterdam

Date: 10/12/1998

By Rory Watson

TALKS on the next set of changes to the EU's constitution will begin next summer, when the ink will barely be dry on the new Amsterdam Treaty.

Finland is preparing to launch the latest in a series of Intergovernmental Conferences on reforming the Union treaties during its six-month presidency which starts on 1 July 1999 - far earlier than most EU governments had anticipated.

The Finns insist there is no reason to delay the start of negotiations on the internal reform of the Union's institutional and decision-making structures which are widely regarded as essential before the Union expands to take in new members.

"Given that the German presidency can reach agreement on the regional, social, agricultural and financial reforms in the Agenda 2000 package, it is logical to start discussions in the next intergovernmental conference during our presidency," said a Finnish spokesman.

The next round of negotiations will focus on the key issues which were left unresolved by EU leaders at the end of the talks on the Amsterdam Treaty in June last year.

On the table will be moves to erode the power of individual member states to veto policy initiatives by agreeing to take more decisions in the Council of Ministers by qualified majority vote instead of unanimity.

There is also mounting pressure for governments' voting strength in the Council to be reweighted to reflect countries' population sizes more accurately and for the number of European Commissioners to be reduced.

All three changes raise hugely sensitive issues relating to national sovereignty, but there is consensus among all 15 EU governments that they must be settled before the Union expands to take in new members from central and eastern Europe.

The Amsterdam Treaty itself specifically states that the questions left unresolved last year must be settled before enlargement and the Belgian, French and Italian governments agreed a statement at the time stressing the need for more majority voting.

Senior Brussels diplomats say plans for the new IGC will be discussed at this weekend's European summit in Vienna and formalised at the EU leaders' meeting in Cologne in June.

Preparations for the negotiations would then be launched by the creation of a reflection or personal representatives' group in September, with the IGC itself beginning work at the Helsinki summit in December.

While there will be strong pressure to keep the agenda as short as possible, senior officials admitted this week that it would still be possible for any government to add its own pet interests to the negotiating list.

But if the talks can be completed during 2000, this would give member states at least two years, and probably longer, to ensure the revised treaty was ratified by their national parliaments before any new countries were admitted into the EU.

A new Intergovernmental Conference is likely to be launched by the Finnish EU Presidency in the second half of 1999.