Hopes rise for enhanced cooperation deal

Date: 27/07/00

By Simon Taylor

CHAMPIONS of the move to ease the conditions under which groups of member states can push ahead in certain policy areas without the rest are increasingly optimistic that agreement can be reached on the issue by the end of this year.

EU diplomats say a more positive attitude from the UK and Spain towards 'enhanced cooperation' has boosted the chances of getting a deal at the December summit in Nice, with both countries indicating at a meeting this week that they are open to lowering some of the barriers to using the mechanism.

"We are seeing real progress on this issue which should mean that we should be able to agree to ease the criteria for enhanced cooperation in Nice," said one.

Sources say the UK has indicated that it is prepared to discuss easing two of the criteria which have to be met before the mechanism can be activated: scrapping the veto which allows any government to block moves to launch co-operation in a particular area and reducing the minimum number of countries needed to take part in any new form of co-operation from the current threshold of half of all existing member states.

Countries such as Germany which are leading the drive to make enhanced cooperation easier have called for the threshold to remain at eight, even if the Union expands to take in 13 new members.

But diplomats predict that if the key conditions are eased, some governments will press for other safeguards to ensure new forms of co-operation do not exclude other member states. The Irish delegation has suggested, for example, that the European Commission should be given a stronger role in checking that any new projects would not undermine existing treaty commitments.

EU diplomats also welcomed a paper from Spain setting out proposed conditions under which enhanced co-operation could be used in drawing up common positions on foreign policy issues. Initially, Madrid opposed any moves to allow for more flexible co-operation, warning that this could further weaken public support for joining key projects such as the euro in countries like the UK and Denmark.

But Sweden and Denmark, the two other countries which are most concerned about the risk of creating a two-speed Europe, remain strongly opposed to the move. At this week's meeting to discuss possible treaty changes, they repeated their opposition to easing the conditions for moving to new forms of co-operation. "The compromise agreed for the Amsterdam Treaty is very delicate and we have yet to be convinced about the need for change," said a Danish official afterwards.

France and Germany are championing the move to lower the barriers to enhanced cooperation as a means of guaranteeing that the EU's political development will not be halted when new countries join the bloc in the next few years.

Champions of the move to ease the conditions under which groups of Member States can push ahead in certain policy areas without the rest are increasingly optimistic that agreement can be reached on the issue by the end of 2000.