Treaty text finally ready for leaders’ signatures

Date: 11/09/1997

By Rory Watson

AFTER months of wrangling over the fine print, the way is now open for all 15 EU governments to put their signatures to the new Treaty of Amsterdam in the Dutch capital in early October.

Full agreement on the EU's latest constitutional document has only been reached after diplomats successfully defused a simmering dispute between Madrid on the one hand and London and Dublin on the other over the future arrangements for the border-free Schengen Convention.

In a notable example of deft drafting, negotiators recently added an extra declaration to the treaty indicating that the European Commission's opinion would be sought before other governments gave their verdict on whether the UK and Ireland, which are not members of the convention, could participate in any of Schengen's existing activities.

The formula is a compromise between Spain's stance, now enshrined in the draft treaty, that any such go-ahead must receive the unanimous approval of other member states, and the view of Ireland and the UK that a majority decision should be sufficient.

"The idea is to give the Commission some muscle and to allow it to play the role of honest broker and arbitrator if that proves necessary to prevent one member state vetoing British or Irish participation," explained one EU official.

The new declaration has gone a long way towards dispelling the sour atmosphere which developed after the two non-Schengen members discovered that, in the chaotic dying moments of the June Amsterdam summit, their preferred formula had been replaced by the Spanish-sponsored text.

The Schengen declaration is not the only addition made by senior officials over the summer to the draft treaty negotiated by EU leaders almost three months ago.

Among the most politically significant is a two-paragraph declaration submitted by Belgium, France and Italy this week - just 24 hours before yesterday's (10 September) deadline for final changes to the draft treaty.

Echoing the view already expressed by Belgian Premier Jean-Luc Dehaene and Commission President Jacques Santer, the statement openly criticises the lack of progress on EU institutional reform during the recent Intergovernmental Conference.

The three governments insist this reform is "an indispensable condition for concluding the first round of enlargement negotiations". This goes considerably further than the agreement reached at Amsterdam, which suggested such reform would only be necessary if EU membership rose from 15 to above 20.

Although the declaration has no legal weight, Belgium, France and Italy have now clearly nailed their political colours to the mast and will campaign, in particular, for an extension of majority voting in the Council of Ministers.

As lawyers, linguists and diplomats have battled over the past three months to clean up the text and iron out anomalies, other changes have been quietly introduced. Finland, for instance - determined to avoid any misunderstanding - introduced a declaration on transparency to ensure that the Union's commitment to openness applied not just to areas covered by the Maastricht Treaty, but also to the coal, steel and nuclear industries, which are governed by other EU treaties.

In all, there are now 13 protocols and 58 declarations annexed to the draft treaty. Lawyers and linguists will cast their final eye over the complete text next Tuesday (16 September) and the treaty will be formally signed on 2 October.