Fischer warns IGC of a ‘fractured Europe’

By Dana Spinant

Date: 04/12/03

ANY failure by member states to seal an agreement on the EU constitution will spell the end of a united Europe and open the way for a "fractured European Union", Joschka Fischer has warned.

Speaking to European Voice, the German foreign minister said that if the intergovernmental conference (IGC) does not reach an accord on a final version of the constitution this month, EU countries "will move at different speeds".

He hinted that a group of ambitious member states - a "core Europe" - would unilaterally decide to push forward with integration. Countries would also form different cooperation groups, he said.

As well as offering a stark warning about the consequences of no agreement on the constitution, Fischer said a bad agreement could lead to a divided Europe.

The German, who spoke to this newspaper after delivering a speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, on Monday (1 December), predicted that any "falling back to [the institutional arrangements in the Treaty of] Nice would lead to failure".

"It would lead, in a few years, to a fractured Europe. We should avoid this, to move towards a united Europe."

The minister acknowledged there are "rather serious conflicts of interest" in the IGC. The major bones of contention are the composition of the European Commission and the voting system in the Council of Ministers.

The draft constitution drawn up by the Convention proposes that the complex Nice formula be replaced by a more straightforward "double majority". Under this, to be passed laws would require the support of at least 13 of the 25 member states and those countries must also represent 60% of the EU population.

But Poland and Spain, backed by the UK, fiercely oppose the double majority system because it would mean their voting strength would be diminished. The 2000 Treaty of Nice provisions, due to come into effect next May, give Warsaw and Madrid 27 votes each in the Council, only two less than Germany, which has double their population.

At last weekend's "conclave" of EU foreign ministers in Naples, several diplomats said that the Nice system should be kept for the time being, with any decision on whether to introduce double majority postponed until after 2009.

But Fischer warns that "Germany regards the double majority system as a key achievement of the Convention". He strongly attacks Nice for being difficult to understand, even for insiders.

"Based on my experience of five years as a foreign minister and member of the Council [of Ministers], even for me, as I am not an expert in constitutional matters, it would be impossible to explain the voting system to our citizens. We must have a transparent, understandable system, or we have a problem," he said.

Fischer believes the double majority formula would strike a fair balance between the large and small member states, as it not only requires the agreement of just over half of the EU countries, but also of populous states, for laws to reach the statute book.

On the composition of the Commission, Fischer regrets that the IGC is likely to agree on each member state having a commissioner with full voting rights (the Convention proposed that only 15 commissioners should vote).

He warns that "a big College would be a step towards a presidential system" in the Commission.

One of Europe's most fervent federalists, the minister admitted that the IGC's deliberations had left him feeling disappointed: "Let me be very candid: I am more pessimistic after [the meeting in] Naples than before."

Nonetheless, he believes an agreement on the constitution is still possible and that, once Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey join the EU, "we all move together at 28".

Interview with Germany's Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, in which he warns that if the Intergovernmental Conference beginning on 12 December 2003 does not reach agreement on a final version of the new European Union constitution, Member States 'will move at different speeds'.