IGC deadlock set to continue until leaders gather in December

By Dana Spinant

Date: 06/11/03

TALKS on the European constitution are set to remain deadlocked at least until a special meeting of government leaders in Rome at the beginning of December, according to German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Spanish premier José María Aznar.

The two leaders have acknowledged that the present stalemate in the intergovernmental conference (IGC), gathering EU foreign ministers and representatives of the European Commission and Parliament, is only likely to be sorted out at the highest level of heads of state and government.

Meeting in Berlin on Tuesday (4 November), Schröder and Aznar failed to broker an agreement on a new voting system for the Council of Ministers, due to be operable in 2009.

Spain and Poland staunchly oppose the "double majority" system proposed by the Convention on the future of the EU: this stipulates that laws would be adopted only if backed by at least half the member states (ie 13), which must also represent 60% of the Union's population.

Madrid and Warsaw want to keep the more complicated voting rights enshrined in the 2000 Nice Treaty, which give them more clout than the present proposals.

Under the Nice formula, they both have 27 votes - just two less than Germany, even though the latter has a population double that of Spain or Poland.

The Italian EU presidency had hinted that it would put forward a compromise proposal before an IGC meeting set to take place in Naples on 28-29 November.

Although no such deal is yet on the table, several scenarios are being discussed by diplomats in Brussels and Rome. For instance, one way to accommodate Spain and Poland's opposition to the double majority system would be to increase the population threshold test to 62% or more. Another idea being mooted is to give Madrid and Warsaw more seats in the European Parliament.

Meanwhile, former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, chairman of the European Convention, has warned that member states will be unable to improve the constitution text that his forum drafted and that it should be left as it stands.

"We [the Convention] went as far as we could with the consensus of member states," he said, addressing a meeting of delegates from Europe's cities and regions in the Italian city of Martina Franca.

"That's why we should sign the constitution as it is," he added.

Meeting in Berlin on 4 November 2003, the leaders of Germany and Spain failed to broker an agreement on a new voting system for the Council of the European Union. The two leaders acknowledge that talks on a new European Constitution are likely to remain deadlocked until leaders of Member States meet in Rome in early December 2003.