Brussels, 13/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - The acting President of the Eurogroup, Didier Reynders, raised on Monday before the press, at the end of the Ecofin Council, the subject of the document presented by Commissioner Pedro Solbes on the strengthening of the Eurogroup, which mainly foresees an increased role for the Commission in the way it works. He declared that, if the common wish of Eurogroup members is to make the Commission play a greater role, then it was recalled that the Eurogroup is a body in which decisions are taken by consensus. He pointed out that it is not a question for member countries at the informal meeting to go back on the arrangements relating to its working taken in Luxembourg and Nice. This is particularly true for the external representation of the euro-zone which does not change. "I shall be accompanied by a representative of the Commission at the G7 in Palermo, but I shall only meet the new US Secretary to the Treasury, Paul O'Neill", specified Didier Reynders. "The twelve ministers decide together, and the other participants are guests", he added. He also stated that "on the most sensitive point, the preparation of the work of the Eurogroup, there was no reason to go back on past habits". He did not foresee speaking of this subject again "unless its importance, consecutive to enlargement, makes things too difficult".