Brussels, 19/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Former Irish Prime Minister John Bruton, a Member of the European Convention, restated during a speech delivered on Wednesday at a Nea Demokratia meeting at the Greek parliament that, in his view, the "people of Europe, by direct suffrage, should elect the President of the Commission". If the President of the European Commission is elected by Parliament, he will be "subordinate" and this "would destroy the separation of powers that has been one of the key factors in the European Union's success over the past fifty years", he said. Mr Burton restated his opposition to the idea of a full-time European Council President, although he is more in favour of that of team Council presidencies, formed of several Member States for a longer period than the six months of current rotation.
Mr Bruton also stressed the role of "smaller States, like Greece and Ireland, in the EU", warning: "If some of the shorter sighted representatives of bigger states had their way, and voting strength in EU institutions was rebalanced in favour of bigger states, the result would be to change the political dynamics of Europe. Chauvinism would replace consensus. Intergovernmentalism would replace the Community method. And all Europeans would be losers".