Brussels, 29/01/2002 (Agence Europe) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was able to state his satisfaction after the General Affairs Council on Monday with the appointment of Gianfranco Fini as representative for the Italian government within the Convention on the future of Europe, in addition to the vice-Chairman of the Convention, Giuliano Amato (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.3). The Council finally "reached this solution which was the only one possible", said Silvio Berlusconi, speaking for a few minutes during the evening before an army of journalists who had come from the various capitals to follow the first intervention by the "Cavaliere" as Italian interim Foreign Minister. The discussion "ended as it had to end (…) with an indisputable fact", Berlusconi assured, adding that Gianfranco Fini and Giuliano Amato "are two personalities with strong European convictions who will work well within the Convention".
Dutch Minister Jozias Van Aartsen, who had more reticence about the idea that Italy and Belgium had de facto two representatives at the Convention (Vice-Chairman Giuliano Amato and Jean-Luc Dehaene as well as the representatives of their governments), recalled that the final decisions will be taken by the EU 15 representatives at the IGC. Belgian national Louis Michel agreed for his part that the president of Alleanza Nazionale "has gone back on many of his reprehensible opinions". "Mr Fini is neither Umberto Bossi nor Jörg Haider. He is a man of the hard right. He has gone back on many of his declarations made years ago. I believe we should take this into account", Louis Michel said on RTBF radio. French Minister Hubert Védrine pointed out, for his part, that he had interpreted the Laeken text in the same way as Italy - namely that the Italian government was entitled to a representative in addition to a vice-chairman. He specified that "there is no comment to be made on the personality of the people appointed by the governments".
Italy, on the other hand, did not receive much reassurance about the possibility of completing the work of the Intergovernmental Conference that will take over from the Convention by the end of 2003, under the Italian Council Presidency. The question was discussed during bilateral meetings between Silvio Berlusconi and the Council President, Josep Piqué. "I have no doubt about the fact that the IGC will take place during the Italian Presidency as going beyond 2003 would mean superimposing enlargement, the appointment of the new Commission and also European elections", said Silvio Berlusconi, who remarked that "the entry of new countries without definition of the form of the future Europe, would mean that everything would have to be started again, and it would be difficult with 25 members". Josep Piqué refused to commit himself about this claim which had already been presented by Italy during the Laeken Summit. "The date of June 2004 was fixed during the Nice Summit", the Spanish Minister reminded the press, while conceding that this deadline "was not restated in Laeken. The date which was defined unanimously may be changed unanimously". We recall that the 109 members of the Convention will inaugurate their work on 28 February and will present, within 10 months, "options" and recommendations to the IGC.