Brussels, 05/12/2002 (Agence Europe) - After presenting the Commission's contribution to the Convention to the EP, Romano Prodi answered questions put to him by the press, who also questioned him on the Commission's working document on a contribution to the preliminary draft Constitution of the European Union, known as "Penelope". President Prodi said they were not the first to practise this sort of thing. He cited the Brok and Badinter drafts. And Commissioner Michel Barnier recalled that the same thing had been done with the University Institute of Florence but with "all things being equal", whereas the new text "takes into account the changes we want". This document "does not bind the Commission", he reaffirmed.
On the contribution presented to the Convention, Commissioner Antonio Vitorino commented that, with this text, the Commission has, in some ways, "invited Montesquieu to visit the European Union" to bring clarification and simplification. According to Mr Vitorino, the Commission's dual responsibility, also before the European Council, is the "logical corollary" of the formula proposed for designating its president. The order followed so far is therefore overturned, since there would first of all be a vote by Parliament then confirmation on the part of the European Council, he noted, adding that "this means a change in terms of the power struggle", which must be offset.
Michel Barnier, who answered questions put to him on the European Commission's monopoly of own initiative, felt that a "key to the success" of the last 50 years was precisely that the Commission had this instrument "in its hands" that it has never used in an impermeable way. He said "we are working as if we were a first collective minister, who, after a collegial procedure, places a proposal on the table that comes close to the general interest (…). By blowing all that away, we would go toward blocking or explosion", he said.