Powerful tandem is en route for Dublin

Date: 12/12/1996

By Rory Watson

FRANCE and Germany are preparing to risk the wrath of many of their EU partners with their attempts to press through ambitious reforms of the Union's treaties.

In contrast to the Irish presidency, which has tried consistently to avoid any direct confrontation in the Intergovernmental Conference, Paris and Bonn have deliberately mapped out parts of a clear route to reform the EU's institutions and strengthen its internal and external security.

Many of their ideas, particularly in the area of judicial and police cooperation, directly challenge the views of other member states.

As a result, their joint initiative could sour the atmosphere of the Dublin summit this weekend (13-14 December), despite Irish Prime Minister John Bruton's intention not to allow any options to be closed off at the meeting.

The Franco-German tandem is pressing for more majority voting, an end to border controls, a timetable to transform Europol from an intelligence gathering centre into an effective police force, the harmonisation of drugs legislation and a cut in the number of Commissioners.

French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl prepared the ground for this weekend's talks in their traditional pre-summit joint letter to fellow European leaders.

Bonn and Paris have also consulted two of the three other largest Union members - Spain and Italy - on a more detailed 15-page memorandum.

That the UK was not involved is hardly surprising, given its government's firm opposition to ending border controls or giving up national vetoes in a range of policy areas.

But the Netherlands, which takes over the EU presidency from Ireland at the end of this year, is also expected to object to Franco-German efforts to clamp down on its liberal approach towards soft drugs by harmonising anti-narcotics legislation throughout the Union.

Many smaller member states are also likely to be alarmed by the view expressed in the Kohl/Chirac letter that, in the context of enlargement, “it is unthinkable to maintain the present composition” of the Commission.

The Commission itself is expected to take offence at the Franco-German suggestion that it should share its right to initiate draft legislation with member states. Although the proposal is carefully restricted to some third pillar judicial and interior issues, and would be strictly limited to a specific transitional period, the Commission is known to be suspicious of any attempt to water down its exclusive right to table legislative proposals.

Despite the potential powder kegs in the Franco-German initiative, Paris and Bonn share the Irish presidency's view that issues of direct concern to citizens, rather than institutional or foreign policy matters, should be at the centre of summit talks.

In his own pre-summit letter to fellow leaders, Bruton states: “The message from Dublin must be that the Union is serious about fighting drug trafficking and organised crime and, equally, is responsive to the demands of our citizens that we protect the most vulnerable in our society, especially children.”