Brussels, 03/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Commenting on the no-vote by France and the Netherlands to the European Constitution on Thursday in Brussels, Peter Sutherland of the European Policy Centre (EPC) said the behaviour of current European leaders reminds him of the anecdote by Robespierre who, when jostled by a crowd, exclaimed: “Let me pass. I am your leader”. Slamming the lack of leadership in Europe, the former member of the Delors Commission, who was Director General of the GATT and first Director General of the WTO, denounced during the annual meeting of the Council of the EPC (founded by Stanley Crossick) the “dysfunctional relationship between the European Council and the Commission” which, in his view, is today at the origin of many of the current problems. The European Council does not behave like a European institution but serves as a “battleground” for national leaders, he deplored. How can leaders claim that they will have a vote by the people on the European Constitution when they continually “bash on the head” the Commission that embodies European integration in the eyes of the citizens? Our current leaders are not committed when it comes to Europe, Mr Sutherland complains, recalling the time when President Delors, after having threatened to resign if he did not have the governments' agreement on Structural Funds, had finally managed to convince Chancellor Kohl, who had fought till the very last against increasing the German contribution to the EU budget. Delors, Sutherland recalls, then told Kohl: “You have to do it”. To which Helmut Kohl asked: “For Europe?” Delors' response to this was “Yes”. And the agreement was signed, Peter Sutherland said, wondering whether that would be possible today. After the negative votes in France and the Netherlands, Peter Sutherland is also highly critical of ”extrapolation” consisting in saying that all Europeans are “disenchanted” with Europe. He warned that one can “disparage the results of polls” that say exactly the contrary and which unfold in “tranquillity” but referendums are subject to great “vagaries” (not so long ago, he noted, polls predicted the yes-vote would win by 60% in the Netherlands).