Strasbourg, 16/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - Prepare the Council of the European Union for enlargement, this is the main aim of the proposals for reform made in my report, said Javier Solana, Secretary General of the Council, Wednesday afternoon, when presenting his report on the reform of the Council to the European Parliament. If in-depth reforms require modifications to the Treaty, certain improvements are possible right now, if the will to achieve them exists, as these reforms "are urgent", he said when recalling that these suggestions concern:
(1) The European Council, which must rediscover its central role "providing strategy leadership and adopting major political decisions for the EU, and acting as the engine for the EU. According to Mr Solana: - the new "General Affairs Council should improve its preparation of the European Council; - the works by the European Council should be better organised ("annotated" agenda, possible use of a form of indicative voting, radical reduction of delegates); - the Summit conclusions should concentrate on the key elements of "impetus and decision"; - the work should be concentrated into a single 24 hour day (with a dinner on the eve); - it is necessary to ensure the confidentiality of debates. According to Mr Solana, all these measures should appear in a code of conduct. Moreover, he felt it would require, if necessary, the planning of "fireside" meetings or meetings around a large table, when it is a case of considering certain subjects in a more in-depth manner.
(2) The General Affairs Council, whose work should divided into: work on foreign and security policy dossiers, work on horizontal dossiers, preparations for the European Council and legislative work. These Councils would gather on different dates, said Mr Solana, who underlines that the Member States will be free to have themselves represented by a Minister of their choosing at the "General Affairs" Council level, whose main role will be to prepare the meetings of the European Council and ensure the implementation of decisions and guidelines. As for the transparency of the Council's work, according to Mr Solana, we can already create an atmosphere, a "culture" of transparency.
(3) Council Presidency, the six monthly rotations will become increasingly problematic in a Europe of twenty or more. Even if, for many Member countries, belonging to the EU is crucially reflected in this six monthly presidency, it is necessary to change the model, felt Mr Solana, who suggests measures that, according to him, do not require a revision of the Treaty> these include: - a more long-term programming of the works, over several Presidencies (one or one and a half years); - a presidency formed of committees or groups; - a reduction in the number of Council formations (from 16 to twelve). It is necessary to consider the concrete case of external relations, said the High Representative for CFSP, who underlines his conviction in the need for the EU to speak with a single voice and announce: I am ready to share my thoughts and experiences both with the Convention on the future of Europe, and with the Intergovernmental Conference that will follow, in order to provide impetus to a more political, a stronger and a more influential Europe, on the international arena.
(4) The legislative activity of the Council, which should be open to the public, while, at the same time, improving the structure of the works and by adopting methods inspired by parliamentary practices (limiting the talking time, written presentation of amendments…).
The functioning of the institutions is excessively complex for our citizens began the European Commissioner, Michel Barnier, while repeating, "part of this complexity must be accepted and explained, as it is the price to pay for a united and uniform Europe". The Commission can say yes to a whole series of proposals, he stated, while citing: a more structured programming of the work by the European Council, return to the European Council's role of providing impetus (and return of Coreper to its original role), coherence, efficiency and transparency in the functioning of the Council. The rediscovery of the Community method allowing, according to Mr Barnier, to overcome certain difficulties, for example those posed by the rotation of presidencies, continuity being guaranteed by a Commission that proposes and a Council and Parliament that deliberate. Like Mr Solana, Mr Barnier thinks that some of these improvements can be introduced immediately, without waiting for reforms of the Treaty.
These may be good ideas, stated the German Christian Democrat, Elmar Brok, who nevertheless sees a danger: if we prescribe certain things immediately, do we not risk depriving the Convention of its reason for being, and, in fact, weaken the position of the Commission and Parliament? If this is the result of Seville, I do not agree with it, he said. The President of the EPP-ED group, Hans-Gert Pottering, gave a generally positive reaction to the suggestions made by Mr Solana, calling for the creation of an inter-institutional working group, which would notably define the guidelines to follow concerning transparency of the Council's works.
If the Council does not wake up and does not change its working methods, "it will fall through the trap door", warned, for the Socialist group, Jacques Poos, who fears that the Heads of State and government will end up dealing with everything, by making use of the governmental method. The Ministers for Foreign Affairs and/or Ministers taking part in the General Affairs Councils, who would have rediscovered their vocation (tackling transversal dossiers) must "work more and better", and compel themselves to show greater discipline", asserts the Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs. (See EUROPE of 27 September 2001, p.6, concerning the Poos report on possible reforms of the Council without a revision of the Treaty). It is the fate of the European Commission, which concerns Andrew Duff, who spoke on behalf of the Liberal Group. For him, the successful functioning of the institutions would be greatly improved if the Commission could be granted sufficient executive authority, without constant interference from the Council. The idea put forward by Mr Solana and others of creating an executive committee stemming from the Council Presidency, without referring to the role of the Commission, is truly extraordinary, stated Mr Duff. The flaw in your statements, adds the co-President of the Green/ALE group, Monica Frassoni, when speaking to Mr Solana, is that for you the role of the Council is a governmental role, while the reform must take place within the framework of an internal redistribution of powers, with a strengthening of the powers of the Parliament as co-legislator. The Council is the body that has the greatest need for reform, noted Sylvia Kauffmann, for the United Left/Nordic Green Left. While Georges Berthu (Mouvement pour la France) feels that, in an enlarged Europe, the Council should have a pivotal role, since it is more easily adapted to the method of variable geometry against a Commission, which according to him, is excessively rigid. The British Labour member, Richard Corbett, welcomed several suggestions from Mr Solana, notably concerning the scission of the "Foreign Affairs" and "General Affairs" Councils, even if certain countries would like to send the same Minister to two separate meetings. These members of the Council will have to develop more coherent relations with their respective national parliaments, and if they do this job "properly", we will not need to create new institutions, insists Mr Corbett. The Finnish Green, Heidi Hautala, warned against the "apparent transparency" suggested by the Solana report, while noting that the report limits itself to proposing modest initiatives limited to cases where the Council is in co-decision with the Parliament.
The plenary adopted a resolution by Hanja Maij-Weggen and Jacques Poos in which they call upon Javier Solana to inform the European Parliament before submitting his report to the European Council in Seville (let us recall that "correspondents" from the Heads of State and Government participate in the exercise: see EUROPE of 6/7 May, p.5). Otherwise, the resolution mainly concerns EP/Council relations and insists in particular over the need that: - the reform the Council (Frassoni/MacCormick amendment, for the Greens/ALE) aims to confer legislative power upon the Council and EP and confer executive power upon the Commission; - in the framework of the conciliation procedure (Fiori amendment, for the EPP-ED) the Council has representatives with a political mandate, who may personally make decisions during the negotiations; - the Council (Duff amendment, for the Liberal group) submit to the European Convention any reform of the European Council or the Council susceptible of requiring a modification of the Treaty.
A former Head of Government as Council President?
In an interview with the Financial Times, the British Minister for Europe Peter Hain, asserts that the EU needs a longer Presidency of the Council, as the present system does not provide the EU with the strategic grasp and political leadership it needs. According to him, this presidency exceeding the present six months would "probably" be entrusted to a former Head of government. Which, according to the FT, could be, as of 2005 or 2006, Tony Blair, or Jose Maria Aznar. This new Council President would take on a significant part of the work done by (…) the EU High Representative for foreign policy, adds the Financial Times.