Scheme to reverse EU calendar year

Date: 02/11/1995

By Rory Watson

THE European Union woke up this week to find yet another change to the annual calendar being mooted in Italy.

After the upheavals involved in moving from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar 400 years ago, the EU briefly digested the suggestion that the first half of 1996 should run from July to December and the second from January to June.

The idea was floated as a way of avoiding a bruising general election in Italy disrupting the country's EU presidency due to start on 1 January. But it came like a bolt out of the blue to Ireland, which is operating under the existing calendar and believes it still has eight months before taking over the EU presidency.

“As far as we are concerned it is business as usual and we plan to take over the presidency on 1 July as foreseen,” an Irish spokesman diplomatically replied after reading a translation of the front page opinion article flying the kite in the daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.

But the idea took on a life of its own and a day later prime ministerial candidate for Italy's centre-left parliamentary bloc Romano Prodi gave it his qualified blessing.

“If our government asked for it, if the Irish government agrees, if the other governments were in agreement and if it is technically feasible, it would seem to be a sensible thing,” he said unhesitatingly.

Swopping presidencies was briefly suggested last year to prevent elections in Germany and France from paralysing EU business, but was swiftly rejected. The latest call also received the thumbs down from Italy's two European Commissioners, Emma Bonino and Mario Monti.

Reactions to the idea say much about the two countries involved. Italians interpreted it as an attack on Lamberto Dini's technocratic government on the grounds that real politicians were needed to run a successful EU presidency. The Irish, after the initial shock, treated it with humour.

Perhaps a more Machiavellian reason is behind the short-lived Italian attempt to delay its turn at the EU helm. As one veteran of several presidency campaigns admits: “The second half of the year is far more interesting. There is a lot more to do and more issues to sink your teeth into.”