Brussels, 26/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - After having spoken of his rejection of a federal Europe earlier this week (see EUROPE of 22/23 January, p.8), European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein set out his views, in the Hague on Friday evening, on Europe's future. A Europe he wants to see communautaire and where the Commission would have a central role. "At Nice, the European Union reached its limits. Never had an Intergovernmental Conference lasted so long and produced so many decisions that led to so much confusion", he declared: "The Nice European Council marked a turning point in many respects, revealing the dangers threatening Europe if we do not opt for a clear and effective decision-making process". Yet, "the efficiency of intergovernmental decision-making is in inverse proportion to the number of Member States around the table", he added. Certain reforms were postponed to the next IGC, and the EU will then have to make the right choices, otherwise we face political paralysis. In the debate between those in favour of intergovernmental cooperation and those in favour of the "Community method", Mr. Bolkestein clearly places himself alongside the latter, and pleads in favour of a strong Commission: "The Commission will have a central role to play in all areas on which the Union confers the status of common interest. It will therefore have to be efficient, rigorous and audacious - not a group of ambassadors, but the heart of the Community", he observed.
For him, the time, that saw the Franco-German axis play a central in European integration, has evolved. Now, alliances between Member States are made and broken depending on the subjects broached. "Strong political leadership in Europe is a thing of the past (…) France has long modeled European institutions and especially the institutions (…) But enlargement will wither this French garden", the Commissioner explained, for whom the major challenges to take up over the coming years are implementing the Lisbon agenda, enlargement, the common foreign and security policy, and a common asylum and immigration policy.