Paris, 20/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - At a conference in Paris on Friday on "The future of European institutions and transatlantic relations", French Foreign Minister Noelle Lenoir spoke of the recent Franco-German proposal on the European institutional architecture (see EUROPE/Documents, No. 2311, dated 17 January 2003). The minister recalled that, apart from the suggestion of in future having a "more stable President of the European Council, responsible for representing the Union on the international stage when meeting Heads of State or Government", as well as a "European Foreign Minister uniting the roles of High Representative for Cfsp and the Commissioner for External Relations, responsible to the Council", France and Germany were even proposing "- and this is a considerable step - generalising the use of qualified majority voting for foreign policy (with safeguard clauses)". Furthermore, she considered that one important aspect of European defence was to "provide for closer co-operation between Member States agreeing to become involved when others do not choose to do so". This possibility "exists in all areas except defence", and "such an exception is not justified", Lenoir exclaimed, noting: "For example, faced with an emerging crisis, certain Member States should be able to participate without delay in joint military operations, despite reservations on the part of other partners to deploy their troops". In addition, recalling that, in their joint contribution to the European Convention on defence, France and Germany place emphasis on the creation of a European Armaments Agency, Ms. Lenoir said that "pragmatic forms of co-operation" that already exist in the field of armaments "must be clearly tethered to defence Europe".