Prodi heads for clash over IGC

Date: 02/09/1999

By Simon Taylor

ROMANO Prodi is set for his first major clash with EU governments as he pushes for sweeping treaty changes designed to make the Union more democratic.

The incoming European Commission president believes EU leaders will waste a golden opportunity to win back public confidence in the Union eroded by this year's scandals if they stick to the minimalist agenda for reform agreed at their summit in Cologne in June.

But his desire for a more ambitious reform agenda will set him on a collision course with EU governments, most of which want a short, sharp deal. "Prodi is a bit late in trying to widen the agenda. Member states feel very strongly about limiting it to what was agreed in Cologne," said one EU diplomat.

The incoming president made it clear that he favoured a more ambitious agenda for the forthcoming Intergovernmental Conference last week when he appointed a special group of senior European political figures to examine whether the minimalist approach favoured by most EU governments went far enough.

"I believe it would be a great mistake to launch a limited IGC by default through a fear of looking the challenges of enlargement in the face," he said as he revealed that he had asked former Belgian Premier Jean-Luc Dehaene, ex-German President Richard von Weizsücker and former British Europe minister Lord Simon to produce a report by the middle of next month.

The group will focus on "whether the limited agenda so far identified for the IGC is adequate" and Prodi will use its findings to draw up his own recommendations in time for the Helsinki summit in December.

Prodi's aides say the democratic legitimacy of the Union is a key issue for the former Italian premier. "He wants to look at whether democratic control by the European Parliament should be improved further," said one, adding that if EU governments opted to extend the range of policy areas where decisions are reached by qualified majority vote instead of unanimity, they should also consider giving the European Parliament an equal say in more policy areas.

"If there is more qualified majority voting, we need to look at whether there should be more co-decision", he insisted.

British Liberal MEP Andrew Duff, who has discussed the forthcoming IGC with Prodi, said the incoming president was "absolutely determined to be very forceful".

He added that Prodi was not only considering calling for more powers for the Parliament, but also for strengthened provisions on a common defence policy and the free movement of people.

Governments continue to be adamant, however, that the IGC should only deal with the issues left over from the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty negotiations: namely, the weighting of votes in the Council of Ministers, the number of Commissioners and the scope of majority voting.

Reforms in these areas are seen as the bare minimum necessary to prepare the EU for enlargement, amid concern that decision-making will otherwise grind to a halt in a Union of more than 20 member states.

But Prodi is bound to get strong support from the Parliament for his more ambitious plans. MEPs from all political groups called for wider reforms during the hearings with Commissioners-designate this week.

Parliamentarians believe that the Commission's resignation in March and the poor turn-out in the June Euro-elections make an overwhelming case for far-reaching reforms to enhance the EU's democratic legitimacy.

One possible change which was floated this week would be to give the Parliament an equal say with EU governments in the Common Agricultural Policy.