Brussels, 28/04/2003 (Agence Europe) - The President of the Liberal element of the European Convention, MEP Andrew Duff, has acknowledged on behalf of his group that in its text on the institutions presented last Thursday in plenary, the Presidium has "indeed put various pieces of the institutional jigsaw into place, particularly the separation of the Council's executive and legislative roles", and the inclusion of the European Council in the Constitution. However, the text appears to institutionalise the rivalry between the Commission President and the future President of the European Council, and risks creating divisions between present and new members, and worsening the gulf between large and small Member States. Mr Duff suggested a different solution: replacing the six-monthly Presidency with a pluri-annual programme, proposed by the Commission and adopted by the European Council. As to the Presidency of the European Council, he suggested either rotation, or "some form of permanent Presidency, not excluding the possibility of this person also being the President of the European Commission". The British Liberal is effectively re-launching his proposal for a single Presidency of the Union.
Liberal group President Graham Watson described Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's initial proposal as a "hostile take-over bid by supporters of an intergovernmental Union". Despite the Presidium's "valiant efforts" to "water down some of the least acceptable proposals", this text needs "reworking", says the British Liberal Democrat. He believes that "compared to the Franco-German proposal, Giscard's text contains too strong a flavour of Paris and not enough of Berlin". He also pointed out that in Athens on 18 April, 18 of the 25 governments of the enlarged Union were opposed to the idea of a full-time European Council President.