Luxembourg, 17/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The report drafted by the Spanish Presidency with the Secretary General of the Council, Javier Solana, on reform of the Council will be forwarded to the European Council of Seville without the General Affairs Ministers having really managed to bring their national stances closer. On Monday in Luxembourg, discussions made it possible to note divergence over several aspects and in particular real disagreement over the possible division of the General Affairs Council into two separate formations. The next three Council Presidencies, however, gave a favourable welcome to the reform and Denmark pledged to apply the decisions taken in Seville from 1 July.
The Presidency report proposes that the role of the General Affairs Council should be strengthened in preparation of the European Councils that would last no more than one day, with the Heads of State and Government meeting for the first time the day before with the president of the Commission. Delegations would be limited to 20 persons, each with two places in the chamber. Meetings on the sidelines of the meeting with third parties should be approved by the General Affairs Council during its examination of the agenda. Conclusions would be prepared in advance, with optional parts, and should be as concise as possible. Some delegations, including the United Kingdom, Sweden and Finland, hope that the European Council may, as an exception, have a dossier referred to it for a political decision, including by qualified majority vote if the treaty so provides for the Council. Others are opposed to this, so that the European Council will not be turned into an appeal body for the Council, and France does not wish to hear of qualified majority decisions at the European Council. The Presidency suggested opening the possibility for the European Council to proceed to noting the present positions which would then be brought to the Council's attention so that it might draw the appropriate consequences.
The trickiest problem remains that of the split in the General Affairs Council into a formation responsible for horizontal coordination, the composition of which would be left to the choice of Member States, and an external relations Council covering CFSP, ESDP, foreign trade, development cooperation and humanitarian aid. The Council would be composed of Foreign Ministers who could be accompanied or, where necessary, replaced by specialised ministers. The discussion between the Foreign Ministers showed that Sweden and Finland support this proposal. Denmark, Greece and Italy and France are in favour of this, but Germany does not really seem convinced of how appropriate it is, and British Foreign Minister Jack Straw also expressed doubt about its effectiveness, fearing that it would in reality result in an increased number of meetings. Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal and Ireland are clearly opposed to it. (See EUROPE of 6 June, p.3 on the subject of the Benelux Memorandum) The debate did not lead to progress towards possibly reducing the number of Council formations either. The Presidency should propose a list of about ten formations in Seville. It will also propose reducing the number of informal meetings of ministers by reserving this possibility to only those ministers who are not fully organised into a formation. In addition to various arrangements ensuring better continuity between the successive Presidencies and more rational planning of Council activities, the report confirms that there is a favourable orientation for opening Council debates and deliberations up to the public (first policy debate and final vote) when it is a question of co-decision with the European Parliament.