The Fifteen to take the time necessary to arrive at ambitious reform (possibly working "until Sunday included"), declares Vedrine - European Conference (meeting on eve of the Summit) could play greater role by opening up to other countries

Brussels, 29/11/2000 (Agence Europe) - It is wrong to say that the Council Presidency "lacks ambition" for what should be the "Treaty of Nice": it is seeking a "good agreement", a compromise, but "a constructive compromise, not one geared downwards". This is what the President of the Council, Hubert Vedrine, had to say Wednesday afternoon to the European Parliament. The French Presidency will take "all the time necessary, Sunday included, if we must", to reach an agreement allowing the Union to work effectively after the next enlargement, said the French Foreign Minister, recalling that the ministerial conclave of the IGC would be held in Brussels on Sunday (he announced that Parliament's representatives in the Intergovernmental Conference, Messrs. Brok and Tsatsos, were invited to that session), before an IGC at ministerial level on Monday, with an address, as usual, by EP President Nicole Fontaine. President Chirac will come to set out the results in Strasbourg on 12 December, he confirmed.

Mr. Vedrine spoke of the unfolding of the IGC so far, following the "salutary clarifications" of Biarritz, in the following terms:

• Extension of qualified majority voting. Things are moving forward "rather well", and if certain Member States confirm their efforts, some thirty articles could move from unanimity to a qualified majority. But some countries still have "serious problems" with the coordination of provisions on social security, taxation, asylum and immigration, trade policy and services, he acknowledged;
• Enhanced cooperation. They are close to the solutions recommended by the European Parliament. Thus, the minimum threshold to trigger enhanced cooperation "should be set at eight" Member States, and the appeal clause to the European Council, genuine "right of veto" should be replaced by a "right of referral". As for the second pillar (foreign and defence policy), Vedrine stressed that certain countries wanted particular mechanisms, and have "placed great emphasis" on this these past few days still.
• European Commission. Between the formula of a Commission reduced in number and a Commission with one Commissioner per Member State, negotiations "have revealed another solution" that could take account of the concerns o the different countries, and that would consist of setting a ceiling "from a certain numerical stage of enlargement", with egalitarian rotation. This is a "serious path on which a large majority are prepared to work".
• Weighting of votes in Council. Vedrine noted a "perceptible movement" (but, he admitted, certain Member states have not yet decided on their positions) towards a simple re-weighting rather than in favour of a dual majority. It will be up to Nice to decide, he said.
• Distribution of seats in the European Parliament. Here too, Nice will have to decide.
• "Article 7": we have made "good progress" on the reform of that article, with the "introduction of an early warning system". The idea of a reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights in Article 6 of the Treaty, on the other hand, has been "robustly rejected" by several Member States, for which such a reference would even place back into question the proclamation of the Charter in Nice.

Summit also to deal with services of a general interest, maritime transport, sport, etc.

Other than institutional reform and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, that may be formally proclaimed in Nice, Mr. Vedrine also referred, among the major topics of the Summit, enlargement: the Summit will set out a clear and ambitious line of action for the rest of the work, he said. The European Council will be preceded (Thursday) by a summit between the EU and applicant countries, plus some other countries (notably Switzerland), Vedrine recalled, stating that this European Conference (that met in Sochaux last week at foreign minister level) had a "unique role" to play, and hoping that more use could be made of it in future, opening it up to other countries.

In addition, the Council President cited: the Social Agenda: Mr. Vedrine praised the results of Monday's Social Affairs Council, as well as the agreement on tax on savings, of which the European Council will "take note", remarking: "It is a good week for European work"; - the follow-up to Lisbon (reports to the Summit on performance indicators, the autumn 2000 "employment package", progress indicators on "e-Europe", etc.); - consumer protection and food safety; - the safety of maritime transport; - services of a general interest, on which the Presidency would like to annex a Declaration to the Summit's Conclusions; - the special economic, social and cultural nature of sport, on which there will also be a declaration.

Prodi assures MEPs that Commission will strive for a Treaty providing "value added"
and pleads in favour of a reform of trade policy

The Nice Summit must adopt a Treaty that does indeed provided "value added", and "the following morning", when asking ourselves if we are satisfied with the results, the European Commission will "reply frankly", said, in turn, the President of the European Commission. Regarding the weighting of votes in the Council, Romano Prodi pleaded specifically for the "simplest" system, that of the "dual majority", simple population/number of Member States (and the MEPs gave him warm applause). I have the impression that we are moving towards a "reasonable compromise" for the European Commission, he remarked, adding that, whatever the number of Commissioners, its President would have to be given "all the powers necessary" to be able to manage the college effectively. We are also on the right track regarding enhanced cooperation, the Court of Justice, the statute of European political parties, but we are very concerned at developments regarding qualified majority voting, said Mr. Prodi (who had sent out a cry of alarm on this subject last week). The mathematics and "fifty years of experience" show us that a "small" enlargement risks leading to deadlock in decision-taking, he noted, pleading in particular in favour of a move to qualified majority voting for trade policy, especially regarding services. Our trading partners, and, at times, "our rivals" are "enthusiastic" at our obligation for unanimity, he exclaimed, affirming that, "unfortunately", the text on the table for the IGC is "complicated, very ambiguous, very long and very weak".

Furthermore, Mr. Prodi turned to the conclusions that the Summit of Nice will have to draw for the EU's role in matters of crisis management and prevention, and stressed that, for the Commission, only an "integrated approach" (covering civil aspects) would enable the EU to play that role: the Commission "adopts the necessary internal measures". Finally, he turned to "post-Nice", citing among the issues to be dealt with in that context "the balance between the institutions", in the spirit of the "Community model" that has proven its worth through the years.

Tomorrow, EUROPE will return to the debate and the resolution (that has to be adopted Thursday morning).