Brussels, 07/12/2000 (Agence Europe) - The Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, in an interview with the "Figaro" published on Thursday, admitted that, in the IGC, "we have lost a great deal of time with these discussions over the reduction in the number of Commissioners, and, on this point, I can only criticise the stance chosen by the large States including France". "I think that the number of Commissioners must rise until the end of the present enlargement" he said, adding: "Then, I have no objection towards a system of equal rotation with a ceiling in the number of Commissioners to a level no higher than twenty. I would be prepared if the Nice summit agrees over the details of such a rotation. Without which, it would require at least retaining the principal and setting a new meeting. Moreover it would require a concrete proposal to be made, which is not the case". As for the weighting of votes, Mr Juncker notes that "much gesticulating is done around the various formulas that are on the table, while there is no proposal by the Presidency". It withdrew its proposal on double majority, but it will reappear in Nice, asserted Mr Juncker, while noting that "if we want a weighted system, the larger Member States should be the unchallenged leader in the number of votes", but "we must not push differentiation to the point of making the small States observers of the decision-making process". The Luxembourg Prime Minister also said, over a possible "split" by Germany, that he can envisage that many may have a slight lead", while underlining the France and German know that Nice cannot fail because of this. Over qualified majority, Mr Juncker said he did not have any "confidence in the members of the Council which, most often, does not listen to those which do not agree with the majority positions". According to him, if we had in Europe "a true culture of debate, it would be much easier to pass to qualified majority". Questioned over the French attitude concerning trade and "the cultural exception", Mr Juncker said he could understand this French wish. If "this provokes concern in certain European quarters, it is that France has not been understood", he remarked.