Brussels, 16/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - During his press conference after his speech at the European Council (EUROPE 9211), the president of the European Parliament was questioned on future enlargements and the EU's “absorption capacity”. An architect would never add floors to a house without checking that the foundations are sufficiently “resistant”, he replied, but this capacity “is not constant”. He gave several examples of species that have disappeared as their growth in weight has not corresponded to skeletal development and which were therefore “crushed by their own weight”. Regarding the Constitution's ratification process, Mr Borrell noted: “There are nine Member States that have not said anything yet - I wonder if they are hiding behind the French and Dutch no-votes, like the bull behind the burladero” (a wooden frame in arenas).
On the question of the seat of the European Parliament, Mr Borrell explained that he had not brought up the matter before the Heads of State and Government as he had already done so in his letter to Chancellor Schüssel, who was kind enough, he said, to consult his colleagues before replying, before the Summit, that Member States did not wish to change the current regime (after Wolfgang Schüssel's response, the Conference of the Presidents of political groups said on Wednesday evening that the mandate given to President Borrell to bring the problem up at the European Council was accomplished: see EUROPE 9211). Given the insistence of journalists, Mr Borrell said: “this is not the most serious problem facing the EU”. “The question is not on the agenda”, he told those who questioned him about the campaign of signatures for a single seat in Brussels launched by Swedish Liberal Cecilia Malmström (EUROPE 9208).
The ALDE Group reacted strongly. Its president, Graham Watson, said in a press release that the European Parliament should be able to decide where it meets “not being the lackey of the Member States”. He deplored “the spinelessness of Hans-Gert-Pöttering and Martin Schulz” (presidents of the EPP-ED and PES Groups) on this matter. German Liberal Silvana Koch-Mehrin (whose party, FDP is in the opposition in Germany) added: “the major coalition between Conservatives is united in its ignorance at the European Parliament also”.