Brussels, 27/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commissioner responsible for Institutional Reform, Michel Barnier, held, this Monday, a press conference to mark the end of the works by the "Vimont Group" that prepared the ministerial works of the Intergovernmental Conference (see other story). On Sunday, it will be the turn of the Ministers to conclude the works, and the word will be a passed on to the Heads of Government. At this stage in the preparation, Michel Barnier, having carefully followed all the Minister works as that of their deputies, believes he is able to assert that "in Nice we will not have a great reform", but that "a correct and useful one is still possible". The Commission will continue to fight until the last minute to gain it; but it maintains the opinion that the content is more important that the timetable.
Some criticisms will determine if the reform is 'correct and useful"? Mr Barnier kept four of them:
No leftovers in Nice. The reform must decide: the size and composition of the Commission, the weighting of votes in the Council; the extension of qualified majority voting; the creation of mechanisms for reinforced cooperation. The decision must be definitively taken in Nice, because if the reforms are not decided now with Fifteen, they will not be tomorrow with twenty eight.
However, Mr Barnier does not exclude the possibility of deciding on an issue today while deferring the implementation until the future. This could be the case of the composition of the Commission. Mr Barnier announced that a considerable number of delegations are now willing to accept the two-phase solution: first of all one Commissioner per Member State, with the guarantee that every new member will have one Commissioner of that nationality from the outset; and then a ceiling to the number of Commissioners with "egalitarian rotation". The Nice text must indicate the conditions and the moment (a date, or the number of Member States triggering off the mechanism) for transition to the second phase.
The solution consisting in taking a decision while deferring its application could also apply to transition to majority vote for asylum and immigration matters.
Suppression or withdrawal of right of veto in Council. The assessment criteria is here the verification of progress in five main operational Union policies:
a) Taxation. The aspects likely to move to the Community regime are: modernisation of acquis (VAT, excise), the fight against tax evasion and fraud, the coordination for preventing discrimination and double taxation, and environment taxation.
b) Social security and social protection. The veto could disappear regarding coordination of social security regimes, the comparison of best practices, information exchange, and minimum provisions for national social legislation.
c) Common commercial policy. There should be unanimity solely in fields where there is not harmonisation within the EU.
d) Visas, asylum and immigration. Mr Barnier considers as sufficient a firm commitment to make a coherent series of proposals pass to the majority regime from 1 May 2004.
e) cohesion policy (regional aid and other).
On each of these points, at least one large Member State hopes to maintain the right of veto: the United Kingdom for the first and second, France for the third, Germany for the fourth, and Spain for the fifth. If such requests continue, says Mr Barnier, there would not be "correct and useful" reform.
Efficiency of the Union. This criterion foremost covers the way votes are taken in Council. Barnier announced that, contrary to the situation that prevailed a few weeks ago, the simple dual majority system (population, number of States) was back on the table. It may even be said that it has the backing of the majority of Member States. Its advantage is its simplicity. Some delegations maintain that three large States would constitute a minority block, but they do not have great support.. In addition, enhanced cooperation must allow for the "increased diversity of Member states being managed without blocking the Union progress" and be situated within the institutional framework.
The Union's efficiency also means that institutions must be able to work effectively; the question of the ceiling arises for the Parliament, Commission, Court of Justice, etc,.
European democracy. The first element obviously concerns the role of the European Parliament, with the extension of EP/Council co-decision procedures to all matter for which a majority is required. But Mr. Barnier cites other important points: the new Article 7 (with a procedure regarding the respect of democratic principles and human rights), the verification of the compatibility of all international agreements with the provisions of the Treaty, recognition of the role of European political parties. Under this heading, we also find the later developments for which Nice has to establish principles and procedures: the incorporation of the charter of Fundamental Rights in the Treaty, the simplification and re-ognisation of the Treaties, reflection on competencies between the EU and Member States.
For the preparation of the "post-Nice" aspects, Barnier recommends a procedure by which successive Council Presidencies would be responsible for preparatory work which the Fifteen would discuss at the end of the Belgian Presidency (end-2001).