Paris and Berlin cook up shock deal over EU presidency

Date: 16/01/03

By Dana Spinant

A DEAL between the leaders of France and Germany to back a dual presidency of the European Union has sent shock waves across the EU: the compromise risks preempting any meaningful discussion on the subject in the Convention on the future of the EU.

At a meeting on Tuesday night Jacques Chirac and Gerhard Schröder agreed to share power in Brussels between a president of the European Commission, elected by the European Parliament, and a full-time president of the European Council, chosen by heads of state and government.

The agreement, described by one MEP as a "pragmatic barter", risks producing an ungovernable EU based on two competing administrations. Both the European Commission and small member states were quick to express reservations over the idea.

"We could face potential problems having two centres of power at the same level," Jonathan Todd, a Commission spokesman said yesterday (15 January). A Dutch official strongly rejected the idea of "another president being picked from among government leaders".

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, who participated in the negotiations, admitted he does not like the deal brokered by his own boss. "It is not ideal," he said yesterday, admitting that Germany only agreed with a dual presidency for the sake of having a deal with France.

Greece, which took over the EU's existing rotating six-month presidency this month, is also wary about the prospect of a more permanent president who would be in the job for two-and-a-half or five years.

Small countries fear such a president would inevitably boost the power of the large EU states, which would always appoint one of their own, while depriving the small states from the rotating presidency.

A crucial question was whether the president would be elected from the members of the European Council - ie a ruling prime minister or president - or among outsiders such as former national leaders.

The distinction is significant: an acting head of state or government, exerting his EU function in parallel to his national post, would only be a part-time president, a chairman coordinating the European Council's sessions.

But, as under the Franco-German plan the future president would be elected among outsiders, he would be more powerful: he would be full-time, supported by a fully-fledged administration.

"We could have backed a president elected from among European Council members, but we are not happy with one from outside, who will work 100 as an EU president," a Belgian diplomat said last night.

The deal reached by the French and German leaders is set to have a huge impact on the debate in the Convention. "One thing is clear: the rotating presidency is dead now," MEP Iñigo Méndez de Vigo, a member of the praesidium, told this paper.

However, the Spaniard denied the Convention would be taken hostage by this decision. "This is what France and Germany propose, but now we'll have a debate in the Convention to see if it fits, if it is efficient and democratic," he said.

Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, the Convention's spokesman, also rejected the view that Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's forum must content itself now with only fine-tuning the details of a deal brokered by the masters of Paris and Berlin. "Isn't it the case that without this deal the Convention should have contented itself with showing between now and June the disagreement among its members, without being able to come to any decision?" he said.

But MEP Andrew Duff, a member of the Convention, accused France and Germany of concluding "a barter and not a compromise". "The result is unfortunate, even potentially disastrous. The establishment of two executive presidents is a recipe for internal conflict and external cacophony," he added.

The deal however gained a new convert yesterday - Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Although as a small country leader he had opposed an elected president of the Council, he has been won over to the idea, subject to certain conditions.

The election of such a president should not be the domain of the big member states, he insists.

Rasmussen instead proposes that representatives of small, medium and large states hold the post in turn.

The Convention will debate the institutional set-up of the EU for the first time at a two-day session next week (20-21 January).

A deal between the leaders of France and Germany to back a dual presidency of the European Union risks preempting any meaningful discussion on the subject in the Convention on the future of the EU. The Franco-German proposal foresees a stronger role for the President of the European Commission who would be elected by the European Parliament and the replacement of the European Council's rotating Presidency with an elected President who would serve for either 2.5 or 5 years.