Giscard challenges Prodi’s plans for future of Europe

Date: 07/11/02

By Dana Spinant

GIVING the European Parliament the power to elect the president of the Commission would make plans for an EU president effectively redundant, according to Romano Prodi.

A draft of the Commission's paper on the future of Europe, seen by European Voice, states that such a move would not only reinforce the democratic legitimacy of the Commission's president 'but also suppress any real justification for creating a president of the Union'.

However, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, president of the Convention on the future of the EU, has challenged this view. After a meeting with the commissioners yesterday (6 November), Giscard warned that the two ideas should not be linked. He also insisted the present rotating EU presidency must be shelved and was adamant the small states should not fear a president of the Union.

Commissioners are finalising their proposals, to be unveiled on 18 November, for redistributing the powers of the EU institutions. The prime aim is to strengthen their institution and give it a 'democratic face'.

Insiders told this paper that Prodi and his team are also considering a novel idea of 'weighting' the votes of commissioners to take account of their home countries' population size.

The idea follows concern from large countries about being out-voted in a Commission where each country would have a representative.

A Commission of 27 would leave the five largest member states - Germany, UK, France, Italy and Spain - in a minority. One insider suggested Prodi is being 'Machiavellian' in his suggestion: that it could be a tactical argument to defeat those wanting one commissioner for each country.

As reported last week, the 18 November paper will propose that the Commission be politically accountable before both the Parliament and the European Council, with the consequence that both can overthrow the college.

The Commission's draft paper envisages reforming the rotating EU presidency, without electing a president of the Union. The first option is to have teams of maybe ten countries running the EU presidency for two-and-a-half years. The second is to allow every Council formation to elect a chairman for a period of more than six months.

In addition, the Commission's draft paper warns of the risk of the constitution currently being drafted by Giscard's Convention being rejected by one country's citizens or parliament.

If this happened, the draft suggests a possible solution: a member state failing to ratify could be granted 'associate status'. The political consequences of this are difficult to gauge. The college has asked Commissioner Antonió Vitorino, a member of the Convention's praesidium, to analyse and report back with his solutions to the ratification dilemma.

'The potential for a mess is considerable,' David O'Sullivan, the Commission's secretary-general, admitted on Tuesday (5 November). The Irishman described the idea of a 'refounding' treaty as dangerous, but also promising: a single treaty replacing the present Byzantine treaties would set a new and clearer contract between countries and the Union.

'If we decide that the treaty will be ratified by less than unanimity, we will have to say what will happen to those which didn't ratify it,' he added.

The Commission's top official said this would potentially create a 'heaven, hell and limbo' situation, with some countries in the Union, some outside it and those that failed to ratify the constitution in limbo.

'The Irish experience was pretty much 'if you don't know, vote no',' and that could also happen elsewhere, O'Sullivan warned, referring to the uncertainty created by the first Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty. It was up to national politicians, he told an audience at the Brussels Madariaga Foundation, to explain Europe to the public. In particular, ministers should stop their 'doublespeak' - on the one hand, bashing the EU when it suits them and then urging for the treaty to be ratified, he added.

Giving the European Parliament the power to elect the president of the Commission would make plans for an EU president effectively redundant, according to Romano Prodi. However, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, president of the Convention on the future of the EU, has challenged this view.

http://european-convention.eu.int/bienvenue.asp?lang=EN http://european-convention.eu.int/bienvenue.asp?lang=EN

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