Brussels, 22/01/2003 (Agence Europe) - During a conference on Wednesday at the CEPS (Centre for European Policy Studies) conducted by Daniel Gros, the representative of the British government at the European Convention, Peter Hain, who is Minister for Wales, was very clear in his support of the Franco-German proposal on a full time European Council President. He felt that, at the end of the day, the European Convention would end up agreeing to a "deal of this kind". In his view, this would contribute to maintaining institutional balance with, on the side of the Council, a "strong" Commission. He went on to say "we even need a stronger Commission" as at the time of Jacques Delors (although Delors may not have been Ms Thatcher's "favourite person", Mr Hain commented). "I don't understand why, if you want a stronger Commission, you should also be criticised if you want a stronger Council", the minister exclaimed, for whom the Franco-German proposal has the merit of having broken the "logjam" even if some details have still, of course, to be negotiated. Neither does Mr Hain understand why "the same people who want the EU to have a stronger role in the world also maintain the 'musical chairs' system for the Council Presidency".
The future president of the European Council "will not be a Mr or Ms Europe, or a rival of the Commission president", Peter Hain assured, before sketching out a "job description" whereby the president: would: - mainly develop the Union's "strategic agenda", prepare the agenda of the European Councils ("jointly with the Commission president") and their conclusions; have regular contacts with the Heads of Government (at this point, Mr Hain noted with interest the change in attitude of the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who, he said, dares not imagine pre-summit capital tours in a 25-member Europe: see EUROPE of 16 January, p.5), and, in some ways, "sell the benefits of the Union to the Member States"; take part in regular trilogues with the presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament; be the "external face" of the Union "at his own level" (for example, he would be Bush's interlocutor, whereas the future foreign minister would be that of Colin Powell); and head the European delegation at the G8 summits.
At the same time, Peter Hain recognises the importance that a rotating Council Presidency has for most Member States, and suggests that, except for the General Affairs/External Relations Council, two out of the eight specialised Councils remaining should be presided by four Member States, for a period, for example, of one year, ensuring that this involves three small States and a large State each time, former Member States and new Members.
Peter Hain considers the role of the European Commission as guardian of the Treaties should, above all, be strengthened, and that "score-boards" should be introduced into the Commission's annual reports like those that it regularly publishes on the internal market, and that the "comitology" system should be reformed so that it can work better. Mr Hain believes the "one Commissioner one country" system should be preserved (the Convention will probably not give this up, he said), but that it should be reorganised, for example, according to the proposals put forward by President Prodi, which are "interesting" (vice-presidents working with several Commissioners). Mr Hain confirmed that he has "mixed feelings" about the election of the Commission President by the European Parliament. What is important, he stressed, is that he/she has the confidence of the European Council.