Brussels, 22/03/2004 (Agence Europe) - With a view to revitalising the IGC with the European Council on Thursday and Friday (see above), MEP Andrew Duff, who headed the Liberal component of at the European Convention, again proposed some changes to the European Convention's draft Constitution. These changes should, he believes, allow unblocking of the constitutional impasse. Thus, the British Liberal Democrat takes a stance in favour of: - the idea, which seems to be commanding support, of double majority in Council, 55% of States and 55% of population, instead of 50%/60% as proposed by the European Convention (Ed.: the new percentage would mean that, in order to achieve qualified majority, it would take 14 instead of 13 States and that, for population, the three largest Member States could no longer have a blocking minority); - the decision not to specify the number of Commissioners in the Treaty, or the principle of equal rotation between nationalities: the decision on the size and form of the Commission should be taken by the European Council every five years (Ed.: Mr Duff notes that some of the largest countries such as Spain and Poland, would lose out in the Council and that it is hence only right that they are able to maintain their position in the Commission; - the system used for distribution of the seats at the European Parliament will have to be reviewed making it more proportional to population. The number of MEPs should not be specified in the Constitution but, according to the new system set out by Mr Duff, the EP would have 768 seats, spread between 5 for Malta and 126 for Germany, and the seats for Spain and Poland would increase considerably.