Rome, 10/08/2000 (Agence Europe) - Among the external contributions to the works by the Intergovernmental Conference on EU institutional reform, that of the "Gruppo dei 10" chaired by Cesidio Guazzroni, former European Commissioner, entitled "For a more dynamic and strong European Union", put forward some innovative ideas, notably concerning the institutions. Among the 10 are, the Ambassador Guazzaroni, former Permanent Representative to the Communities Ambassador Piero Calamia, former Minister and former European Commissioner Filippo Maria Pandolfi, former European Parliament Secretary General Enrico Vinci, former deputy Secretary of State Luigi Vittorio Ferraris, the former Confindustria representative to the Communities and President of the Group of Small and Medium sized enterprises within the ETUC FlavioMondello and several university professors. Below are the main points of their study.
European Commission. The Group feel that, the next Commission should be made up of an equal number of members to that of Member States, but that it will be necessary to in the future insert a clause into the Treaty foreseeing the possibility of moving, at the right time, to a Commission with a fixed number of members. In the meantime, the Group suggests that the Commission has two to five Vice-Presidents, and that the Commission President be seconded by a "limited Committee" of which the Vice-President and 6 to 9 Commissioners would be members.
Votes in the Council. The Group feels, in particular, that "now, the population element must have to be introduced, as an element aiming for general balance, into all the methods of voting in the Council", including simple majority votes (to the "majority of Member States" element", it will be necessary to add that of "at least 51% of the total population of the European Union"). As for the qualified majority vote the ceiling should represent at least 65% of the total population of the EU.
Presidency of the Council. The Group suggests that the Presidency be held for a period of 18 months by a group of countries including at least one country with a large population and one or two countries with a smaller population. The State with the largest population will be responsible for the general coordination of the Presidency, the European Council Presidency and the General Affairs and ECOFIN Councils, while the other two countries would form the Presidency presiding over the other Councils and could host a European Council (even if the Presidency is assured by the more populated country).
European Parliament. According to the Group, it will be necessary to confirm the ceiling of 700 members and continue to set a minimum number of MEPs for the smaller countries (for example 4 MEPs as is presently the case). Furthermore, the Group believes that it will be necessary to set a deadline for the adoption of a uniform electoral system and, whatever the system, set aside in each country a number of seats (for example 1 to 5) for the European lists.
Reinforced cooperation. The Group in favour of the elimination of the veto to the starting of this mechanism, which could be applied by one third of the Member States representing less than a third of the EU population. According to this system, reinforced cooperation could be considered in CFSP and defence and also fields such as culture (including audiovisual), health and the environment ("concerning cooperation with third countries and competent organisations").
ESDP. The group, while believing that new ESDP bodies should find their place in the Treaty, recognises that "their functioning on an experimental basis could show itself to be useful".
New European model for "economic governance". According to the Group, it would require annexing to the Treaty a declaration guaranteeing, "if necessary also by a institutional re-balancing, transparency, the democratic character and the efficiency of the coordination of economic and employment policies". Furthermore, it feels that "the Community process of economic structural reforms requires an innovative and Community approach towards social security and workers rights, with the aim of a sustainable European "welfare" model".
Charter of Fundamental Rights. According to the Group, the most realistic prospect presently consists of adopting a simple declaration, only by considering it within a successive phase of the Charter's integration into the Treaty. Thus, it affirms, we can rapidly state the EU basic values, even reinterpret them in a modern manner, without running the risk of anticipating the delicate debate on a European Constitution.