Brussels, 23/06/2000 (Agence Europe) - The UDF MEP Jean-Louis Bourlanges, in a press release, found "absolutely fascinating" the planned European Constitution made public last week by Alain Juppé and Jacques Toubon (former Prime Minister and former RPR "Garde des Sceaux"), while criticising it. Through the pages of the "Figaro" newspaper of the 16 June, Mr. Juppé and Mr. Toubon proposed for Europe a system foreseeing, in particular, the following institutions: - executive power: the EU Council and the European Commission will be removed and replaced by an "EU government", with a Head of government chosen for three years (outside the national governments) who will chose his Ministers without having to respect the rules of allocation between member countries. On the other hand, the European Council would be kept: it will elect for a thirty month period, not necessarily within it, a President of the EU (that will have as main mission the representing of the EU at an international level), and will notably have the right to dissolve Parliament; - legislative power: the members of the European Parliament would not be elected from national list proportionally, but would be elected either in large constituencies within each country, or in uninominal constituencies (700 constituencies for 700 MEPs).
According to Mr. Bourlanges, this model "goes beyond federalism in the dispossession of States", "nearly revealing a sort of European Jacobism", and "put at its heart the Europe of States" dear to General de Gaulle": though, according to him, we need, a very deeply reformed Council and one capable of taking its decision by qualified majority," but "Europe not being a nation," it is "inconceivable to skip round the States governments in the decision-making process." Furthermore, this system seems to him "excessively Franco-French: " thus Mr. Bourlanges is surprised that they want to "reproduce at the European executive level a pernicious dichotomy between the EU President responsible for its external representation and the Heads of government competent in home affairs.