Brussels, 28/05/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Luxembourg Socialist Jacques Poos, in his draft report for the European Parliament Constitutional Committee on the reform of the EU Council, (which will be adopted after the summer), made a series of suggestions aiming to allow the Council to work in a more effective manner, without modifying the Treaty and even without changing its internal regulation. Already in a Union of Fifteen, the Council has lost a significant part of its effectiveness, the General Affairs Council (GAC) no longer has a global vision and its ability to coordinate has seen itself weakened both by the specialised Councils (such as Ecofin) and by the European Council, noted Mr Poos, who was himself, for many years, member of the General Affairs Council as Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs. Mr Poos noted in particular that: - the pillared structure has reduced the role of the GAC, from which the problem of Justice and Home Affairs "escape it completely"; - explosion of the Council into "multiple specialised formations (often rival) has enhanced the intergovernmental to the detriment of Community"; - the rise in power of the European Council has lead to both an "eviction of the Commission" (from the "sherpas" of the Heads of State and Government, who prepare the summits, is born a subsidiary for the parallel preparation, opaque and intergovernmental by essence", and the Commission has "lost entire levels of its power for proposal", felt Mr Poos. when noting that, during his tour of capitals preceding the summits, the President of the European Council is not accompanied by the Commission President) and erasing of the General Affairs Council. The latter, has also been dispossessed of part of its powers downwards (COREPER), asserts Mr Poos, for it is not comprehensible that the institution meant to be "a main centre of Community power continues to deliberate in a room where 85 people (…) sit at the central table, while behind each delegation (…) finds themselves scattered a half dozen seats on which one sees a continual movement of national and Community civil servants. According to him, it is only in informal meetings (once every six months) or in super restricted meetings (very rare) that the configuration and presence in the room is representative of a true exchange of views.
Under these conditions, Mr Poos suggests: reforms achievable in "constant law", consists in particular to:
Respect the Treaty, in order to allow the GAC to play its part, while according to Mr Poos, due to the fact that it takes all the important decision, the European Council often becomes a blocking element. The reform must thus start with the summit.
Decide upstream, that is to say at the level of national governments, the inevitable conflicts of competence and interests between the various formations of the Council. Mr Poos suggests that the cabinets of the member countries have a fixed point on the agenda of their meetings (preferably on Friday): European affairs. Moreover, each government should agree over an association procedure for its parliament to this preparation of European decisions.
Boosting the GAC. Mr Poos proposes a weekly meeting of the Council member, which would avoid the concentration in Brussels of a bureaucratic aristocracy, detached from the national realities and with a tendency to escape their control. According to him, the Member States could delegate to GAC meetings, which could seat, in principal every Monday and Tuesday morning, their Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Affairs or Minister for European Affairs.
Limit the number of formations in the Council, by regrouping the connected competences into a dozen Councils. For example, according to Mr Poos the GAC could also tackle the problems of development and external trade, Ecofin the budget and industrial affairs, etc.
Improve the material functioning of the Council, by reducing the number of members "at the table" (two per delegation, the Minister and the Permanent Representative), with a very limited number of seats in second row reserved for collaborators and experts. Moreover, contrary to the present habits, the deliberations should be suspended - and the number of absent Ministers made public - if the two thirds quorum of ministerial presence, set by the Council regulation, is not reached (the same result could be gained from a self-discipline similar to that existing within the European Council, where it is very rare that a participant leaves the meeting before the end of deliberations). Finally, the Ministers should ban themselves from calling a press conference, when their colleagues are still in session, and the Council agenda should be clearly subdivided into "horizontal" issues, "external relations" issues and "legislative" issues.
Among the reforms to be discussed during the next IGC, Mr Poos suggested in particular the possibility: that a country voluntarily renounces its turn of the Presidency (this has already been done - by Portugal - and could be useful during enlargement); - associate the national parliaments with the legislative functions of the Council.