Respect for smaller Member States vital for enlarged Europe

Date: 02/10/03

By Martin Banks

A 25-STRONG European Union will only work if all its members adopt a respectful approach to smaller member states, German MEP Elmar Brok warned.

Brok, one of the European Parliament's three envoys to the upcoming intergovernmental conference (IGC), conceded that the big states will be even more under-represented in the EU institutions after enlargement, but said “there are advantages in being modest”.

“This gives the signal that every small state has a chance to survive in the EU,” he told the European Voice 'New Europe' conference in Brussels on Tuesday (30 September).

Brok, chair of the Parliament's foreign affairs committee, admitted enlargement was likely to shake up the rules of the game and present alliances in the EU.

But Fraser Cameron, director of studies at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think- tank, predicted that the Franco-German entente would continue to be Europe's driving force after the EU takes in ten new members next May.

“While the UK remains relatively on the sidelines, Paris and Berlin will continue to be the EU's motor,” he told representatives from politics, business and public affairs attending the conference.

Many speakers, including Ireland's ambassador to the EU, Anne Anderson, pointed out that new alliances between nations would be forged in a newly enlarged Europe. But Cameron said this would not affect the current balance of power. “I see no alternative. Both France and Germany still consider the relationship between their two nations to be crucial to the entire European project.”

Michel Petite, director-general of the European Commission's legal services directorate, criticized the Convention on the future of Europe's proposal for a new-look executive, to face the challenge of enlargement. Under the Convention's plan, each member state would nominate a commissioner, but only 15 of them would be able to vote.

Petite said: “This does not make sense. It puzzles me and is less than convincing.

“It will create a two-tier Commission and undermine the entire uniformity of the College of Commissioners.”

Turning to another aspect of the “year of all changes, 2004”, Julian Priestley, secretary-general of the European Parliament, warned the European elections will be a particular challenge. It would be “extremely difficult” to overcome public apathy for the June poll, the first involving voters from accession countries.

Turnout in the 1999 election was an all-time low, falling to under 50%. Priestley suggested one way of reversing this could be to hold referenda on the constitution at the same time as the European polls.

David Galloway, chef de cabinet to the Council of Ministers' deputy secretary-general, said it was crucial that qualified majority voting (QMV) be widely used, in order to prevent stalemate in an enlarged Union. The Scotsman said the use of QMV was important, as it changes the dynamics of negotiations between member states' ministers. “They enter negotiations with a more flexible mind, they are more prone to compromise,” he explained.

Galloway also defended the Council on the sensitive issue of transparency and openness, saying it had “come a long way” in recent years.

Speaking at a Conference, 'New Europe', in Brussels on 30 September 2003, German MEP Elmar Brok warned that an enlarged European Union would only work if all Member States adopted a respectful attitude to smaller Member States.