Brussels/Paris/Copenhagen/Berlin/Rome/Oxford, 27/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The IGC preparatory group chaired by the French Permanent Representative to the EU Pierre Vimont continues its works, on Monday 30 October in Brussels, in particular, on its agenda, reinforced cooperation and the extension of qualified majority voting (notably on sensitive themes such as visas and immigration, and trade policy).
In Paris, when speaking to journalists, the Council President Hubert Védrine felt that the most difficult questions of this negotiation will be resolved at Nice, even to the cost of extraordinary tensions and some sleepless nights.
Furthermore, in Copenhagen, the members of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee have, all partied blurred, supported the Rasmussen government in its determination to gain one Commissioner per Member State. The government must remain firm on this issue, asserted in particular the Liberal Ulla Tornaes, leader of the opposition.
In Berlin, the members of the IGC preparatory group Gunter Pleuger felt that, personally, following the opposition by the "small" States, the result of the negotiation would be a Commission strong in number, but hierarchic, maybe with a half dozen Vice-Presidents. According to him, it is probable that in Nice they will chose, for the weighting of votes in the Council, the system of double majority. Germany "can live" with such a system, he confirmed.
In Italy, the Ministers for Foreign Affairs Lamberto Dini announced before the Parliament's Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Committees that Italy has a preferences for a simple weighting, if possible with a "strong weighting" in favour of the large Member States, while recognising the "fierce" preference of the small countries for double majority. Furthermore, Mr Dini indicated that, after Nice, Italy would work towards placing the Charter of fundamental rights "in a process aiming to give complete content to economic and political integration of the European continent". As for the leader of the opposition (the leader of the League Umberto Bossi had threatened to organise a march of 250,000 angry people - in particular against the Charter of fundamental rights). Finally, in a speech made in Oxford (over which we will return) the European Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten, felt that, as a "wider consensus starts to develop within the Eurogroup over economic, monetary and even taxation issues", the pressure on the United Kingdom for it to accede to the Euro, "in its own interest, "could become very strong".