Laeken, 16/12/2001 (Agence Europe) - The European Council of Laeken on 14 and 15 December was successful in achieving its main ambition: that of adopting a Declaration on the Future of Europe which opens the way to major Union reform for the future. Results of the Summit were also positive concerning the role of Europe on the international scene, but was not able to come to a final solution to the question of where some dozen agencies would be located. Work closed with provisional decisions concerning the Food Authority and Eurojust.
The Declaration of Laeken "raises fundamental questions as to the future of Europe in a world that is in full globalisation (…) There are no more taboos (…) We must dare to ask all those questions that are usually passed over in silence". This was the statement made to the press on Saturday in Laeken by Guy Verhofstadt, a European Council President pleased with the adoption of a Declaration on the Future of Europe in which he is personally and fully committed, and which was only amended on points of detail following the discussion on Friday evening (the part that criticised Europe's shortcomings had already been shortened and attenuated in the last version given on Friday to the Heads of State and Government. Above all, the term "identity crisis" had been deleted. Mr Verhofstadt gave examples of taboos that had been broken in the Declaration, which poses a series of questions addressed to the Convention that is to prepare the future IGC. These questions relate to: the prospect of having "a Constitution for European citizens"; "direct election" of the President of the European Commission; whether or not to keep the half-yearly rotation of the EU Council Presidency; the redefining of the sharing of competences, which must be "a two-way exercise" entailing a larger European role concerning defence, foreign policy, immigration, crime, and also changes in the EU instruments in order to reduce them (at present there are about thirty) and "return to the framework legislation" as the main instrument.
Regarding the Convention, which, from March 2002, is to prepare the next Intergovernmental Conference, Guy Verhofstadt announced that it will have a Chairman, the former President of the French Republic Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and two Vice-Chairmen, the former Belgian and Italian Prime Ministers Jean-Luc Dehaene and Giuliano Amato, who will be part of a Praesidium of twelve persons, which is therefore much larger than initially expected (first of all five persons, and then eight). As the Convention will have one hundred members, an enlarged Praesidium will be more representative, said Mr Verhofstadt. He specified that this "dynamic steering body" will be made up of two representatives from the European Commission (Michel Barnier and Antonio Vitorino, "who are the most expert in institutional issues", Romano Prodi said during the same press conference), two from the European Parliament (Ed.: one of them will no doubt be Inigo Mendez de Vigo, the other probably Klaus Hänsch), two from national parliaments (one could be British Labour David Miliband who was part of the "Laeken Group" that helped Guy Verhofstadt draft the declaration on the future of Europe, said the Belgian Prime Minister) and three representatives from successive Council Presidencies - Spanish, Danish and Greek. Mr Verhofstadt also pointed out that the report from the Convention could set forth recommendations , when there is consensus. If there is no consensus, options could be presented indicating "what support the different options have, and whether support is broad or minority"; and "it must be specified to which side the scales are tipping", he noted (he commented that, if we had simply wanted a list of options, we would have consulted experts in European law). In answer to questions as to why a three-headed presidency was needed, Mr Verhofstadt explained that, with Mr Dehaene and Mr Amato, the "Laeken Group", which worked so hard to prepare the text adopted today, is strongly represented within the Convention. To the question of whether Valéry Giscard d'Estaing is the right person to get the message across to the younger generations, Mr Verhofstadt said that he did not believe Mr Giscard d'Estaing was in any way "handicapped" and added "he is well surrounded …". Could the former Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Bronislaw Geremek who was also a member of the "Laeken Group" (Ed.: like Jacques Delors) also be part of the Praesidium? The candidate countries could be there through their parliament, but as Mr Geremek is no longer a member of parliament, I can only suggest that Prime Minister Miller designate him as its representative, replied Mr Verhofstadt. Regarding the duration of the work of the Convention, Mr Verhofstadt pointed out that the reference to closing work in June 2003 had been deleted from the Conclusions as some delegations had hoped the IGC would be completed by end 2003 (mainly
Italy, which will preside the Council during the second half of the year, and which was very keen on having the aim of ending by end 2003 appear in the Declaration, but this was not to be). He said that it was necessary to allow a "sufficient period of reflection" between the end of the Convention and the beginning of the Intergovernmental Conference.
The Declaration is "strong and optimistic", commented Romano Prodi, who noted that they have two months in which to prepare the Convention, and the Commission is deploying all its forces to contribute to this.
On Saturday morning, during a first round-the-table discussion, President Chirac had presented the candidature of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing to his colleagues. Mr Giscard d'Estaing had the support of Silvio Berlusconi (after having announced that he was withdrawing the candidature of Giuliano Amato), José Maria Aznar, Gerhard Schröder and Wolfgang Schüssel, while Tony Blair asked to think about it. Costas Simitis and Antonio Guterres defended the candidature of Jacques Delors, and Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Paavo Lipponen and Göran Persson pointed out that the Chairman of the Convention should be a personality who was above all familiar with the way the European Councils work - which seemed to give support for Mr Kok's candidature. The session was then broken off after which Verhofstadt proposed his three names, which were accepted. (It would seem that during a bilateral meeting with Guy Verhofstadt, the intransigence of President Chirac regarding the candidature of Valéry Giscard d'Estain was total).
Verhofstadt justifies his refusal to enter into haggling over seats
The Laeken Summit finally ended on Saturday around 20h00 without having reached an agreement on the distribution of the seats of European agencies and observatories between the Member States. The decision was deferred until the end of the Summit when it was finally blocked by France, which insisted on obtaining the seat of the future Maritime Safety Agency in Nantes; Italy, which fought to the very end in order to be allocated the Food Safety Authority in Parma; and Sweden, which was disappointed that the idea of an agency on IT security, that it had itself launched, had been rejected.
The Belgian Presidency had proposed the following allocation: 1) Food Authority in Helsinki, 2) Maritime Safety Agency in Lisbon, 3) Eurojust in the Hague, 4) the European Police College in Bramshill near London, 5) the Air Safety Agency in Cologne, 6) the Observatory for Migration and Asylum in Athens, 7) the Agency for Rail Safety in Lille, 8) the Community Agency for Visa Management in Strasbourg, 9) the Civil Protection Agency in Milan, 10) Border Police in Rome, 11) the Agency on IT Security in Barcelona, and 12) the Observatory on Drugs to be relocated from Lisbon to Paris.
During his final press conference, Guy Verhofstadt stressed the main results achieved during the Summit beginning with the declaration on the operationality of the European defence initiative for missions of the Petersberg kind. He said that this was "an important step along the road to a fully operational ESDP" pending an agreement with NATO. Guy Verhofstadt also insisted on the fact that "the conclusions cite for the first time a list of ten countries with which it is hoped accession will be signed in 2004 after having completed negotiations in 2002". The Belgian Prime Minister presented the main progress recorded in the context of Tampere follow-up (citing the Commission's request to present, by 30 April next amended proposals of directive on asylum procedure, family reunification and Dublin II, and the Council's invitation to accelerate its work on the other texts). Mr Verhofstadt welcomed the acceptance of principle of a mechanism or common service for the control of external borders (he said that the word "police" had been replaced as, in some countries, it is not the police that has this responsibility), to be proposed by the Commission. He also stressed that hardly eleven weeks were needed between the decision of principle and the final adoption of the arrest warrant. As far as the seats of the agencies are concerned, he declared: "I made a balanced proposal which was accepted by twelve Member States. Two (Ed.: France and Italy) refused it and one expressed reserve (Ed.: Sweden). I refused to let myself be dragged into lengthy and arduous negotiations that would have lasted several hours (…). Citizens would not have understood". He went on to stress the disastrous effect that "this little game, this haggling, these unending discussions over who gets what" would have had on the day when "the Laeken Declaration gives a different image of Europe". Mr Verhofstadt pointed out that the Council had, however, provisionally fixed the seat of the European Food Safety Authority in Brussels and that of Eurojust in the Hague where there is already Europol, because these two agencies must start work and it would have been "unacceptable for them to have been prevented from doing so because of failure over a global package". "If an agreement on the package had been needed to obtain a result for these
two agencies, then I would have persisted", he added.
During the same press conference, Commission President Romano Prodi also affirmed that these two decisions could not wait. He repeated that the choice of Brussels is "purely provisional". He welcomed the "tenacity and commitment" of the Belgian President which "was a true success", and gave his best wishes to Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, stressing that the Convention will be the "first exercise for general review of our institutions with a new method".
"Over recent months, Europe's external relations have made gigantic steps forward", noted the Council President, Louis Michel. He said that "we have not let a single opportunity pass us by and, in some cases, we have gained years" (he cited the arrest warrant). "The European Union has become an inevitable player", he said, considering that, in the "Middle East, it is doing at least as much as other great powers". By raising the strength of a Europe that "never entirely closes its door" and which is "always open to dialogue", Mr Michel felt that "the 11th of September made us realise Europe's added value" without which "coalition would never have been made more dense" to maintain this "solidity". Among other results, Mr Michel also cited the "new and more visionary relationship with Russia", the more important place held by Africa in work of the Fifteen as well as the project of the Euro-Mediterranean Development Bank (mentioned in the Summit's Conclusions).
Interpretations differ over multinational force for Afghanistan
On Friday evening, Guy Verhofstadt had summarised for the press the work of the first day, accompanied by Louis Michel, Annemie Neyts, Javier Solana and Romano Prodi. The Commission President arrived last creating a moment of suspense - was he going to come or not, as in Ghent? When he did arrive, there was applause and Mr Verhofstadt commented: "Well played, eh … We were beginning to wonder what we could do to animate the press conference?". But more seriously, Mr Verhofstadt began by welcoming the "unanimity" between the Fifteen, in Laeken, concerning the despatch to Afghanistan of a multinational force under the aegis of the United Nations. Louis Michel also expressed his opinions after the remarks by Secretary to the Foreign Office Jack Straw, who had tempered his enthusiasm by telling the press that it was not a matter of sending a Union force and that only some Member States would take part. If there is misunderstanding, I am no doubt responsible, but this morning I gave you an exact report of the "state of discussions", he said, and what counts is the "determination expressed by all the Member States" to contribute to stabilising the situation in Afghanistan. Mr Verhofstadt continued by saying that the great difference with other crises is that, for the first time, there was unanimity in saying that we must play a role in a force which will of course be wider than the EU alone …
Regarding the declaration of operationality of the ESDP, Mr Verhofstadt stressed that "we did not wish to wait for a definitive agreement with NATO before adoption, in order to implement all the efforts made by the High Representative". Javier Solana answered a journalist who doubted such operationality in the absence of such an agreement, recalling that there can be three levels of operations: - those led by NATO itself; - those led by the EU using NATO means; - and those led by the EU without needing NATO means. Even without a final agreement, he recalled, it is possible to conclude with the Atlantic Alliance on a case by case basis.
Mr Verhofstadt also spoke of the Community Patent affair. He stressed that they (the ministers, during their meeting on 20 December at the Internal Market Council) "will be able to discuss everything they wish, such as national offices, etc., but the result must be that, in future, a Community patent will be significantly less costly than it is today" (some EUR 11,000 on average, he specified). Romano Prodi added that they wish to reduce this cost. He spoke of the "linguistic problem" (Languages, he noted, is a "fixed cost").
Romano Prodi said they had also held a broad discussion on Galileo. He stressed that, for the European Commission, this project is "indispensable for the future of Europe", not only on the level of scientific progress but also for economic and social development.
France criticises the Presidency's management of the agency issue
France openly criticised the strategy adopted by the Presidency on the subject of the seats of the future European agencies. The Presidency added "to the two or three agencies in question a whole series of seats for agencies that do not really exist", said President Chirac, who considered that 'such an inflation of agencies called for reflection on their cost effectiveness". Above all, Mr Chirac and Mr Jospin clearly explained that France, which is a candidate for hosting two agencies, could not agree to not have any seats allocated to it. France would have agreed that Helsinki should have the Food Safety Authority on condition that the Maritime Safety Agency has its seat in Nantes, explained Lionel Jospin.
Regarding the Laeken Declaration and the Convention, the French President stressed that "never has reform of the Union been prepared with such transparency". The declaration on operationality shows that "things are now in place for a defence Europe", he was pleased to add. Participation of the multinational force in Afghanistan is a "clear sign of the place held by the European Union on the international scene", he went on. Speaking to a journalist who remarked that this was not a European force, Jacques Chirac said "we could have had a general's uniform made up quickly for Javier Solana" but "that's not how it works" and that we must wait until the defence Europe is fully ready.
Schröder supports "a Constitution worthy of the name"
Commenting on a Declaration of Laeken that he considered "historic", Chancellor Schröder noted that it had been adopted quite rapidly because it had been well prepared by the Belgian Presidency. He stressed that the composition of the Praesidium with 12 members would allow it to be effective. He justified the choice of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as Chairman because of his "very intensive" commitment to European political activity. In answer to questions on Mr Giscard d'Estaing's intergovernmental leaning, Mr Schröder said that he had spoken of this with Helmut Schmidt, who is a long-time friend of the former French President with whom he had launched the European monetary system, and who does not consider Mr Giscard d'Estaing defends the intergovernmental method. Foreign Minister Joshka Fischer considers that one has very much less to fear about possible intergovernmental irregularity as the composition of the Praesidium is "very balanced" being made up of two representatives from national parliaments, two from the EP and two Commissioners who are logically in favour of greater integration. "I am still in favour of clarity" and "the ideal thing would be a project of Constitution that is worthy of the name", said Mr Schröder. He remarked that the declaration leaves the Convention the possibility to present a single text or to mention options.
Blair considers France is on his side regarding the future of Europe
On the subject of the reference to the European Constitution in the Laeken Declaration, Tony Blair told the press that, despite such ambitions, Europe is moving forward more pragmatically under the influence of France and the United Kingdom in particular. He said that, of course, Europe must cooperate more closely but, on the basis of the model of the nations that are moving forward together, and not according to a federal super State. He went on to add that Paris and London are on the same wavelength for defending the model of a union of nations. Concerning the work of the Convention, Mr Blair pointed out that he did not see any inconvenience about speaking of everything on condition that it does not bring into doubt the principle of subsidiarity. (He felt that Europe should not interfere in everything).
Silvio Berlusconi hopes the IGC will end under Italian Presidency and defends
Parma on behalf of "national interests"
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi defended Italy's resistance for imposing Parma as the seat of the Food Authority. He stressed that "politics is also defending national interests". He pointed out that "with all respect due to Finland", he proposed that two agencies proposed by the Presidency should be allocated to Helsinki. The beauty of the building where the agency would have been established, and the quality of Parma ham, are in themselves two major arguments in favour of the Italian town, he felt. More generally, he gave his assurance that he was "satisfied" with the Summit, since the timetable established for the Convention will allow "final management" of the Intergovernmental Conference to come under Italian Presidency. He attributed to his own "tactical talents", after the withdrawal of the candidature of Giuliano Amato, the victory of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing for Chairman of the Convention, thus guaranteeing a future for Europe founded on a liberal spirit and subsidiarity. The day before he had explained that Amato's candidature was compromised as it would have been difficult for Italy to hold both the Chairmanship of the Convention and the Commission Presidency. According to the Italian Prime Minister, there was no link between the difficulties posed by Italy during the adoption of the European arrest warrant and the lack of support for Parma. At any rate, according to a survey "we have finally given our agreement". Now that "we have begun to build a Europe of justice beginning by the roof, we should start to build the foundations" by tackling, before 2004, criminal legislation, the code of criminal procedure and the organisation of justice. During the dinner of the Heads of State, Silvio Berlusconi reportedly told his colleagues that "there is a problem in Europe, there are judges with political objectives". Commenting on the historic importance of the introduction of single currency, he remarked that there could, however, be a "certain nostalgia for the lira, especially for those who have made a lot". Italian Foreign Minister Renato Ruggiero insisted for his part on the fact that the Declaration of Laeken contains the word "Constitution", albeit in the form of a question raised at the Convention.
José Maria Aznar regrets there is no agreement on Agencies.
Josep Piqué hopes for agreement on patents
Spanish Prime Minister José Maria Aznar, who will have the heavy task of resuming the issues of where the Agencies will be located, regretted that the package proposed by the Belgian Presidency had not been accepted. He stressed that 12 to 13 countries would have agreed to the compromise proposed, and that Spain would have been pleased to host the IT Security Agency in Barcelona. Mr Aznar was also pleased that, alongside the secret list of terrorists including the names of persons and organisations, the public list will comprise not only names of organisations but also of individuals and "entities". Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Piqué considered the Laeken Declaration "very positive", as it leaves open the questions of the themes that will be tackled by the Convention. In answer to questions on the regions that will be represented in the Convention as observers, Josep Piqué pointed out that it will be up to the Committee of the Regions to take a stance. The Spanish Minister also said he was "more optimistic" about the possibility of reaching an agreement on the Community Patent during the exceptional meeting of the Internal Market Council on 20 December, while acknowledging the fact that, during the Summit, there was clear opposition by Germany and France to the proposal of compromise presented by the Spanish Presidency. He supported, moreover, the proposal for the European satellite positioning system, Galileo, stressing that progress should be made during the first half of 2002 on "this very important issue".
Paavo Lipponen "disappointed" by the failure on Agencies
Finnish Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen said he was "disappointed" that the European Union had not reached an agreement on a "subject as important as that of the agencies". He refused to "point a finger" at Italy, a founding country of Europe, but remarked that fourteen Member States were in favour of Helsinki's candidature. Furthermore, he said he was pleased with the composition of the Praesidium of the Convention, formed of "people with great experience".
Costas Simitis is "optimistic" about the possibility of a compromise on Turkey and European defence
Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis said he was pleased with the results of the Summit regarding defence "although the problem over Turkey remains". He is "optimistic" about the possibility of reaching a compromise on the question of relations between the European Union and NATO, even though he considers that the proposal of agreement with Turkey presented by the United Kingdom is not "acceptable" because it would not guarantee the autonomy of European defence and would lack transparency. At present, "we shall begin by discussing in the context of the EU and according to institutional procedures", he added. He pointed out that Greece would have been content to be allocated the seat for the Migrants Observatory.
Jean-Claude Juncker welcomes the choice of persons to chair the Convention
Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker felt that the Laeken Declaration on the future of Europe was above all "a policy paper rather than an explanatory paper". He was pleased by the mandate attributed to the Convention. The three persons chosen at the head of the Convention "are guarantors of a move forward for Europe", he said, adding that they do not represent the threat that Europe will have whole sections of its powers removed. He attributed the failure of negotiations on the distribution of the seats of agencies to the intransigence of France and Italy, and explained that he had warned the Member States during work that there should be "no link between the allocation of seats and the appointment of the Chair to the Convention".
Ireland pleased the Laeken Declaration covers issues raised by the Irish referendum
Irish Prime Minister Bertie Aheren felt the Laeken Declaration and the Convention provide an opportunity to examine, at European level, the concerns expressed in Ireland during the referendum on the Treaty of Nice, to make the EU more simple, more understandable. Bertie Ahern did not however want to evoke the possibility of a second "no" to the referendum on the Treaty of Nice. Visibly not very happy with the appointment of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing as Chair of the Convention, he stressed that one must know how to make compromises in the European Union. The debate, he said, is now closed and we shall give it our support. Bertie Ahern felt, moreover, pleased by the request made to the Commission to review proposals on asylum and immigration. It is necessary to look back over what has been done, to see the differences between the national legislation, especially the different interpretations of the Dublin Convention, he declared, refusing to give his views on the possibility of going from unanimity to qualified majority in this field.
Denmark sees no taboos at Convention
In answer to questions on the themes to be tackled by the Convention (especially the European Constitution), the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said he was fully satisfied that no issue will be excluded. Everyone has an argument to put forward, he said, and we shall present our own. He was also pleased to note the fact that Denmark (as future Presidency) will have a seat at the Praesidium of the Convention, from the outset. The new Prime Minister also noted that, since accession negotiations are supposed to be concluded during the Danish Presidency, he had received pressing invitations from all candidate countries to visit them. His first visit will be to Slovakia, in January.
Sweden and Portugal are also critical about the question of Agencies
Sweden had expressed "reservation" about the agency issue, explained Swedish Prime Minister Görran Persson, speaking to the press after the Summit. Sweden had proposed a project for an agency on information technologies during its Presidency, but had withdrawn it because of the little support it received. It therefore did not really appreciate the fact that the Belgian Presidency should suddenly bring up this project to allocate the seat to Spain, one Swedish source explained. Sweden was willing to accept the package if the seat if that agency had been allocated to it, or even if the project had been abandoned, but not if it went to Spain. According to Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, the question of seats was tackled in a way that was not very comprehensible, which is not constructive for the spirit of the European Council. The Portuguese Prime Minister welcomed, moreover, the content of the Laeken Declaration and noted that it had been modified compared to the initial project marking a tendency towards renationalisation of Community policies.
Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schüssel was above all pleased with the fact that "for the first time, the 14 partners formally recognised the need to extend the ecopoints system in Austria", governing road transit traffic through Austria after 2003. The Commission is in fact invited to present a proposal for extending the ecopoint system "in order to be able to close the chapter on transport in accession negotiations before the end of the year". (Austria, it is known, is currently blocking the continuation of accession negotiations on transport pending extension of the ecopoint system). Mr Schüssel, however, left open the question of whether his country could lift its veto. We await the Commission's proposal and then we shall see, he explained, thus indicating that the Laeken conclusions will not be enough to bring accession negotiations out of deadlock. The new ecopoints system should cover all the Austrian territory (and not only certain Alpine routes, as the Commission seems to be saying) and should be valid several years, said the chancellor.
Mendez de Vigo and Leinen express satisfaction
"Even the idea of a Constitution is in the Declaration", MEP Inigo Mendez de Vigo was pleased to state. He felt that the Praesidium meets the expectations of the European Parliament and he welcomes the quality of the two Vice-Chairmen. "We also expect much from the quality and the talent of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing", he added. The Declaration is an essential stage along the road towards a European Constitution, said his colleague, Jo Leinen, who regretted that there is no MEP among the "three persons forming the praesidium in the praesidium".
EUROPE will come back to the press conferences with candidate countries on Monday.