Brussels, 08/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - At the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers at Riva del Garda in Italy at the weekend, twenty or so states and the Commission confirmed that they want to go over various parts of the draft European Constitution at the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). Spain and Poland confirmed their demands concerning qmv. The fifteen countries that met in Prague at the beginning of September insisted a rotating system was kept for the Council Presidency, along with one Commissioner per country, thereby strengthening the Commission's position. Only the six founder Member States called for the compromises struck by the Convention to be stuck to, and supported the working methods proposed by the Presidency. Most ministers expressed doubt about the feasibility of the timetable proposed by Italy with a view to deciding on the final text between October and December. Negotiations will continue at the General Affairs Council on 29 September.
Debate focussed on the IGC working methods (due to start in Rome on 4 October) rather than the fundamental issues, noted the President of the Council, Franco Frattini, after the meeting. He was forced to admit that many countries had issues they wanted to negotiate, although several ministers felt it would be a good idea to improve the text but not to make a step backwards. The Presidency has no intention of forcing debate or banning areas of discussion, but it would be a failure for all European governments if the June 2004 European elections deadline were missed, and they would have to assume responsibility, warned Frattini. He said he was convinced that Member States would end up compromising in the end, adding it was hard to imagine them doing it on the basis of the lowest common denominator.
Ministers only agreed on two issues, that European Parliament observers should be admitted and the chairman of the Convention, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, should not be allowed to attend the IGC. They felt the presence of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing would not be a good idea because the work of the Convention and the IGC is different "by nature", explained Franco Frattini. He said ministers had paid personal tribute to the Convention Chairman for the "historic progress" achieved.
The timetable and IGC working methods proposed by the Presidency received a muted welcome. Asserting that work should be carried out at the political level, Italy proposed that heads of state deal with the most sensitive issues at three summits (4 October, 16 and 17 October and 12 and 13 December), viz. references to Christian values, defining the field of application of qmv, and the number of seats at the European Parliament. The document presented at Riva del Garda does not mention the idea of a special summit in November (raised by Italian deputy prime minister Gianfranco Fini in Strasbourg last week). The foreign ministers will deal with areas to be clarified on the fringes of the General Affairs Councils (4 October in Rome, 13 October in Luxembourg, 26 and 27 October in Brussels, 17 November in Brussels, 28 and 29 November in Rome and 8 December in Brussels), namely the rotating Presidency of Council formations, the status of the future Foreign Minister, and structured cooperation within the framework of the European security and defence policy.
The founder Member States supported the Italian proposals. Most of the new Member States, Ireland and Portugal in particular, supported the timetable as long as it allows the problems raised to be settled. Portuguese foreign minister Antonio Martino Da Cruz said it would be difficult to finish the work in December, but "our government is prepared to make all the efforts required to achieve this".
The UK, Spain, Sweden, Finland and Estonia said the timetable was too rigid. Some of them stressed the scale of the issues to be dealt with, others the time it would take to consult parliament. The IGC cannot be a simple formality, said Finnish foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja, adding that deadlines should not be set for outcomes that depend on the negotiations. Spanish foreign minister Ana de Palacio said it was a question of reaching a Constitutional text in a reasonable timeframe, without decaffeinating it. British foreign minister Jack Straw turned down Italy's idea of ministers meeting on Sunday evening before the General Affairs Councils to deal with IGC matters. Swedish foreign minister Ana Lindh again questioned the capability of the Italian government to reach a compromise, saying it would be easier for Ireland, which is better anchored politically.
Various ministers echoed Jack Straw's insistence that experts prepare the ministerial debates, a formula which others see as going back to a traditional IGC. The Belgian Minister, Louis Michel, shared the Italian concern about "keeping the exercise at political level". The results obtained by the Convention, which government representatives took part in, cannot be called into question in meetings of a more technical nature, he said. Although supporting this line, the French Minister, Dominique de Villepin, expressed his view that expert meeting are necessary to "make consensus between States easier". He announced that he would be assisted by Pascale Andreani, an alternate representative of France to the Convention.
The scope of discussions on subjects to be dealt with by the IGC is also very far from consensus. As the Dutch Minister, Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, commented, there is only disagreement on 10% of the text, but none of the States can agree on which 10%.
The Ministers of the founding countries of the Community supported Italy in its requests to "deviate as little as possible from the balanced text that came from 18 months of intense negotiations" within the Convention, and to keep to the six subjects proposed. Any country wishing to come back to these balances will have to propose solutions attracting a broader consensus, warned Franco Frattini. Dominique de Villepin sees a need to "clear up the problems without changing the balance" and "stay as close as possible to the Convention's text". The German Minister, Joschka Fischer, spoke along the same lines, criticising countries such as Austria, which have put more than ten questions onto the table to be dealt with.
The United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Portugal, Greece, Denmark, Ireland and Slovenia adopted a moderate position. There will be a few amendments to be made to the text, but in the worst case scenario, "Slovenia is prepared to stick with the Convention text", said the Slovenian Minister, Dimitrij Rupel, for example. The Irish Minister, Brian Cowen, also described himself as "highly pragmatic", especially on issues related to the composition of the Commission.
The Polish Minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz, on the other hand, hit out at the idea of imposing a limited number of questions on discussions between Ministers and Heads of State. "Nobody can put a limit on our right to defend our positions (...) it would be ridiculous and incompatible with Polish sovereignty", he told the press. The Hungarian Andràs Bàrsony protested against the use of a "take it or leave it" methodology.
On the substance, Ministers reiterated the positions already made known on the draft Constitution, Spain and Poland insisting on a return to the qualified majority as defined in the Treaty of Nice. The fifteen "Prague" countries raised institutional issues, the United Kingdom the question of defence, Ireland and the United Kingdom the issue of unanimity in the filed of taxation, etc. Joschka Fischer set the tone for future debates by warning that if "the States which want to revert (to the system) of Nice", Germany could also "demand two Commissioners".
The President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, clearly asked for the IGC to tackle the issue of the composition of the Commission, whereas the Presidency did not find it necessary to come back to this subject. All Commissioners should have equal rights and it is impossible to work with "Junior Commissioners", said the Commission. This position "was largely held by the majority" during the Riva del Garda meeting, said Romano Prodi, emphasising that "many countries raised the issue of one Commissioner per country, a symbol of their belonging within Europe". He said that "the Italian Presidency has taken note that certain points on which disagreement subsists, such as the composition of the Commission, should be included on the IGC agenda".