By all accounts, Jacques Delors is concerned at the turn taken by relations between the European Commission and the Council. He is not in the habit of publicly criticising a Commission decision; yet he did the appeal to the Court of Justice against the Council on the application of the Stability Pact (see our bulletin of 15 January, page 9). Coming as it does from the person with the longest experience as President of the Commission (ten years) and who gave it the fame and splendour that he did, this concern is not to be taken lightly. He thinks the Commission has everything to lose in a situation of conflict, and that the "Community method" can only work in an atmosphere of trust between the Institutions.
Posturing and provocative words. Nor he has not forgotten the Member States' responsibility in the worsening climate. Having expressed his disagreement on the Commission's legal initiative, he asked for (our translation) "Berlusconi, Chirac, Schröder, who have tried to belittle the Commission, to change their attitude". What worries him is the relations between the institutions, especially between the Commission and the Heads of Government. The Commission should make more effort to create a good atmosphere. He told the "RTL-Le Monde Grand Jury": "for now, the main job is to calm things down. Provocative words have been flying from all sides for the past year and a half. Somebody needs to lower the tempo, put the stakes and common interests into context. This is the Commission's job". On television, he said: "with discretion, the Poles need to be told what they need to be told, and the Germans need to be told what they need to be told, and others too. Once the situation has calmed down, when there is no more posturing and no more provocative words, that's the time to talk and find solutions (which will not be perfect, for there are no perfect solutions when we are 25). The first job is to fall silent". The Commission in particular, "should pay attention, be at the service of the governments, align points of view, reach consensus, and then propose new ideas". The concluding sentence ("this is not the case, unfortunately") shows that he feels that for now, the Commission is not playing its part, or not enough.
The "Delors method". Jacques Delors wants the Commission to go back to its old method, which was behind all its success, from the Single Act to the euro. This method was described by Alain Duhamel (who summarised Delors's "Memoirs", which had just been published, in Le Point): "he knew how to overcome European furore and rifts, playing with the time-table, fulfilling federal objectives, creating consensus within the opposition, involving, convincing, with many short and stirring notes to Heads of Government". Can the "Delors method" be used in this situation? I do not claim to be able to answer that. It is clear that Jacques Delors is worried for Europe, and especially for the Commission, beyond the Stability Pact case. The current Commission only has a few months left in which to complete three fundamental tasks: to propose the new financial framework for post 2007 (early February), to welcome the Commissioners from the ten new Member States (May), and to pronounce itself on the opening of accession negotiations with Turkey (October). We must also look beyond: the future Commission will be extremely fragile institutionally, with 25 Commissioners, to include 20 new ones, with the representation of the large Member States halved and that of medium and small ones in the majority (19 Commissioners out of 25). A proper relationship with governments is essential is, in the next phase of negotiations on the Constitution, the Commission's role is to be entirely preserved in the significant points still open.
A mediator for the Constitution? At the moment, finding compromise on unresolved points of the Constitution is not being done via the Commission; the climate does not allow it. According to the aforementioned Alain Duhamel, "looking at his talents as a mediator, proved ten times over, it seems that the 25 should entrust the European Constitution rescue mission to Jacques Delors". Is this politically conceivable? It is not for me to say, but the Heads of Government could think it over. I will come back to it soon. For the time being, hopes of concluding negotiations within the IGC (intergovernmental conference) quickly rest with Bertie Ahern, the Irish Prime Minister and current President of the European Council. His initial contact with his colleagues was positive, even more so than he had hoped. After the failure of last December, the Heads of Government have given him the impression that they really do want to conclude negotiations, and as soon as possible. All the indications are that Mr Ahern has been able to gain their trust and sympathies. This will be the subject of my comments tomorrow.
(F.R.)