Brussels / Berlin, 27/03/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Preparatory Group of the Intergovernmental Conference chaired by Francisco Seixas da Costa begins, on Tuesday 28 March during a meeting to last all day, its "second round" of questions on the agenda for the institutional reform under way in the EU (see EUROPE of 8 March, pages 3 and 4) and 20/21 March, p.5.
On Tuesday, the Group continues its discussion on: (1) the possible extension of qualified majority, including in the field of Justice/Home Affairs (a note from the Presidency above all asks whether it is possible to already identify the areas - such as control of border crossings, asylum and immigration, judicial cooperation in civil matters - likely to require qualified majority when the new treaty comes into force) and regarding the acts and measures adopted under Article 308 of the Treaty (former Article 235, to which the Council has recourse, in the absence in the treaty of provisions allowing it to use its competences, mainly for the creation of decentralised agencies, economic, financial and technical cooperation with third states, and the energy sector); (2) the composition and the size of the European Commission; (3) weighted voting in Council.
In the meantime, last Saturday in Berlin, the ministers-presidents of the sixteen German Länder, which met in Berlin, announced that the Bundesrat would approve the results of the IGC only if the role of the Länder is safeguarded. "We are not hostile to Europe", commented the minister-president of Bavaria, Edmund Stoiber, while the burgomaster of Bremen, Henning Scherf, who chaired the conference, cited the affair of the German savings bank system as an example to be taken into account by the Länder in their assessment of the results of EU institutional reform.