Brussels, 30/10/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Luxembourg government has just presented to the IGC a memorandum in which it specifies its position on EU institutional reform, after having taken a position with Belgium and the Netherlands, in the Benelux Memorandum adopted during the Hague Summit on 29 September (see full text of memorandum in EUROPE/Documents N°2216, dated 25 October 2000). In particular Luxembourg asserts, in its memo, beyond the IGC, that: - it follows with interest the opening of the debate on the future of the Union, while remaining convinced that "the Community methods and the main principals that until now have determined the functioning of the Institutions are not outdated"; - it is ready, after this IGC, to consider a simplification of the Treaties; - it sees the Charter of fundamental rights as a "declaration of a political nature" whose integration into the Treaty is not "conceivable" at this stage (but it could accept a reference to the Charter in article 6 of the Treaty); - it is in favour of an amendment to article 7, by introducing a "warning and monitoring mechanism" in case of a threat of the violation of the principals outlined in article 6. As for the reforms for which this IGC was called, Luxembourg notes that:
The European Commission should have a member from each Member States, even after enlargement, as this "determines the legitimacy of an institution called upon to represent the common interest". Each Commissioner must have the right to vote in the Commission, which should continue to decide with a simple majority, asserts Luxembourg, which is, thus, against "any hierarchy between Commissioners", while it is in favour of a more efficient organisation of the Commission, organisation that, moreover, "must in no way be included in the Treaty". In fact, this would lock the Commission "into a cell that will not allow it to answer new tasks", felt Luxembourg, which feels, on the other hand, that it is necessary to leave a great deal of room to the President, whose role must be reinforced, to organise the Commission in the most efficient manner.
With regard to the weighting of votes in the Council, its "clear preference" is for a system of double majority, in which the Member States would have one vote, and would be granted an additional vote per million inhabitants (which would give a minimum of one vote to Luxembourg and 83 to Germany). This system has the advantage of simplicity and "sustainability", should not be adapted with the enlargements, notes the memo, which also asserts that the demographic factor is already generally understood in the formation of the European Parliament, which, moreover, has developed its role considerably. In fact Luxembourg notes "the growth in weight of the peoples representatives" of the EU" and the participation of the latter in the decision-making process "on an equal footing" in numerous fields, through cohesion.
Unanimity must be maintained in the Council for everything that is of a "purely constitutional nature", thus modifications of the treaties, enlargements and institutional aspects) or that affect the sovereignty of the national Parliaments own resources, taxation, certain issue of social security, military operations), while Luxembourg is in favour of qualified majority notably for measures against discriminations, common trade policy, most of the provisions in terms of visas, asylum and immigration and social policy (except social security). Luxembourg is in favour of an extension of codecision to all acts of a legislative nature where the Council decides with a qualified majority.
The mechanisms for reinforced cooperation must be made more flexible, in particular by abolishing the veto. According to Luxembourg, it would require setting to eight the number of Member States requires to launch a reinforced cooperation, independently from the number of countries that are part of the European Union.
In the European Parliament, any criteria for the allocation to be applied during the enlargement must continue to guarantee that all the major political forces of one Member State are represented, which means, for Luxembourg, a minimum of six MEPs (the principal of "minimal representation" must also apply to the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions).
The Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance must continue to have one judge per Member State (the memo notes that this principal "is no longer truly challenged"). Furthermore, Luxembourg, while questioning the use of the multiplication of parallel jurisdictions "closely follows" the talks on the possible creation of a specialised competent jurisdiction to understand the contents of the future Community patent.
The new great building site that is Security and Defence policy must be "firmly anchored in the existing institutional framework", by avoiding that it develops "its own decision-making procedures", which means that the Treaty should "clearly determine the mechanisms, notably with regard to crisis management.