20/04/2001 (Agence Europe) - Reuters press agency states that, in an article published on Thursday, Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen says that, at the time of his first European Council, in the spring of 1995, the balance between EU institutions was better, whereas, since then, the European Commission has weakened. So it is a question of "returning to a normal situation where the different (EU) institutions respect each other", he said. According to him, "we must learn from the Benelux nations' attitude of refusing to bow to icons" and "take the side of the Community against the intergovernmentalism practiced by the big States".