Giscard ‘non’ to constitution compromise

By Martin Banks

Date: 11/03/04

VALERY Giscard d'Estaing has dismissed a compromise proposal on the European constitution currently being mulled over by the Irish EU presidency, saying it would amount to a "setback" for Europe.

Speaking exclusively to European Voice, the chairman of the Convention on the future of Europe, which drafted the constitution, said the proposal to change the double majority voting system was a "non-starter".

"We all want agreement on the constitution, but agreement cannot come at any cost," Giscard said.

Following a suggestion from Berlin, Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern discussed, in bilateral meetings with government leaders, a formula to amend the proposed voting system in order to achieve an agreement that would include Spain and Poland.

Under the new plan, decisions in the Council of Ministers would be adopted if backed by 55% of the member states between them representing 55% of the EU's population.

Giscard's draft, however, proposed that decisions be carried if supported by 50% of states representing 60% of the population.

On Monday, Germany indicated it was prepared to look favourably on a new threshold for the double majority that would reduce the power of big member states to block EU initiatives.

Berlin says the 55-55 proposal would not defeat the principle of double majority, which takes into account the number of states and their populations when decisions are made, while giving more power to small countries.

Such a move would prevent the big three - the UK, France and Germany - from blocking a decision on their own. Collectively their population is 44% of a 25-member EU.

This would likely ease the concerns of Spain and Poland, who are worried about a Union dominated by London, Paris and Berlin. Spain has, however, poured cold water over the plan, dubbing it "a move in the wrong direction".

In addition, Giscard told a group of MEPs gathered in Strasbourg on Tuesday (9 March) that "we should not torture the figures [for double majority]".

He insisted the key to a deal is not working on the threshold for the double majority but on the timing for its introduction.

Under the constitution's draft, the new system would enter into force in 2009, but Giscard - and before him Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg - suggested its introduction could be postponed to please Poland and Spain.

But the former French president told this paper there is a "fair chance" that the constitution will be adopted ahead of June's European elections.

Despite the current impasse and the need for some "fine tuning", he remains optimistic it will be agreed during the current Irish presidency.

"It is in everyone's interests that this treaty succeeds. We have suffered one setback and cannot afford any more. I don't want to get bogged down on the date by which it should be adopted, but I would dearly hope it is by the end of the current presidency," he said.

Negotiations on the draft treaty fell apart at a summit in Brussels last December, when Poland and Spain blocked the proposal to replace the Nice vote weights with the controversial double majority system.

But Giscard warned the MEPs in the constitutional affairs committee that the intergovernmental conference (IGC) should not be reconvened by the Irish presidency unless it is clear that a deal on the constitution is possible.

A second failure of the IGC to reach agreement would kill the constitution, the Frenchman said.

The Chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe has dismissed a compromise proposal on the proposed European Constitution being put forward by the Irish EU Presidency.

• Primary Source

http://europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+NR-20040310-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=S http://europarl.europa.eu/omk/sipade2?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+PRESS+NR-20040310-1+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL=2&NAV=S

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