Irish save flexibility for Dutch

Date: 21/11/1996

By Rory Watson

THERE will be two prominent gaps in the new draft version of the Maastricht Treaty to be presented to EU leaders at their Dublin summit next month.

Detailed proposals on institutional reform and development of a more flexible, multi-speed Union will be largely absent from the text being carefully crafted by the Irish presidency.

The gaps were confirmed this week by Noel Dorr, chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference negotiating group, as he and his colleagues began the final preparations for the Dublin meeting.

“There will be something in the document on flexibility, but unlike most other areas, we will not try to offer a developed treaty text on this. There is likely to be considerable discussion on this and on some decision-making procedures in the months that follow,” he explained.

Member states are still far from agreement on the extent to which the new concept of flexibility - or what the French and Germans call 'reinforced cooperation' - should be allowed in EU policy-making.

Foreign ministers will have their first opportunity next week to take an in-depth look at the proposed policy, which is designed to prevent the Union from having to move at the pace of its slowest member in all areas.

But there is a general recognition that the principle will be one of the last issues settled in the IGC as governments horse-trade over the final elements of institutional reform.

“Flexibility is of the greatest importance and we have to be sure we get it right. We will be putting forward texts on co-decision and other matters, but questions like the size and composition of the Commission and on weighted voting in the Council of Ministers seem to us to be the kind of institutional issues that will come at a later stage,” explained Dorr.

While prepared to leave the politically-sensitive institutional issues to the Dutch presidency which takes over in January, Dublin is confident that a consensus is emerging on the future shape of EU judicial and police cooperation.

Detailed Irish proposals to reform the current intergovernmental arrangements were presented to IGC negotiators this week and are now expected to feature in the draft treaty to be examined by Union leaders at their mid-December summit.

“In general, we had a good discussion. Our ideas and approach were given a broad welcome by all the delegations,” said Dorr.

Under the proposals, the EU decision-making procedures which now apply to common policies such as transport and the environment would, in future, also be used for policies on border controls, asylum, immigration, third-country nationals, drugs and customs matters.