Lisbon, 20/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - EU Council President Jaime Gama has briefed his colleagues on how the Portuguese Presidency plans to organise, during the first half of this year, the work of the Intergovernmental Conference on institutional reform. Mr Gama confirmed that he intends to convene this "new IGC during a special ministerial session on the fringe of the General Affairs Council on 14 February" and explained that:
during the six months of Portuguese Presidency, the Conference will take place at ministerial level in conjunction with each General Affairs Council, "in a restricted format", with each Member State represented by no more than one minister and two other persons, accompanied by a note-taker. Further, as agreed in Helsinki, the President of the European Parliament, "accompanied by two representatives of that institution", will have an exchange of views with ministers at the start of each Conference session;
after the launch of the IGC on 14 February, the preparatory group, also foreseen in the Helsinki Conclusions, will begin its meetings. Mr Gama, who intends to submit proposals on the timetable and working methods of this group at the General Affairs Council on 24 January, announced that his representative in this group would be State Secretary for European Affairs Francisco Seixas da Costa and said he hoped to know the names of the representatives of the other Foreign Ministers by the Council on 24 January;
the European Parliament will have two observers in the preparatory group (at the meeting with Messrs Gama and Seixas da Costa in Strasbourg, the EP rapporteurs on the IGC asked that they be referred to as Parliament's "representatives", rather than "observers"). The European Commission will have a representative participating in the IGC "at both political and preparatory level".
Mr Gama also noted that Mr Seixas da Costa would, in preparatory contacts with Member States, be compiling a "preliminary general inventory" of: a) each Member State's views on the main alternatives for the three "central institutional questions" resulting from the Cologne and Helsinki Conclusions (size and composition of the Commission, weighting of votes in the Council and possible extension of qualified majority voting); b) what other Treaty amendments they judge necessary, "insofar as they relate to the institutions", in the light of the three central questions and in application of the Treaty of Amsterdam; c) any other items they believe should be included in the IGC agenda, with a view to preparing the report to be submitted by the Presidency to the European Council in June. Independently of these contacts, the Presidency will welcome during the course of discussion any contributions on these issues which Member States believe should be submitted to the Conference or feel should be included in the agenda of the preparatory group.
Mr Gama noted that the applicant countries would be invited to express their views on the issues being discussed at the Conference and that the Presidency would keep them regularly informed on the progress of discussions. The members of the European Economic Area will likewise be kept informed.