Brussels, 10/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - On the question of the future Treaty, the principal subject of their meeting, José-Manuel Barroso and Romano Prodi took the opportunity, on Wednesday 10 October, to reaffirm their optimism ahead of the European Council of 18 and 19 October. We are “close to a solution”, said the President of the Commission, whilst his predecessor in his post said that he was “convinced” that there would be an agreement in Lisbon. “I hope that the Heads of State and Government will do their very best not disappoint our citizens”, Mr Barroso told the press. Italy, which has challenged the solution taken up in the Lamassoure/Severin report on the composition of the European Parliament (EP) after the 2009 elections (EUROPE 9515), is not linking this issue to the approval of the future Treaty, said Mr Prodi. The Treaty “can be approved perfectly well without touching on the number of MEPs”, he said, adding that the division of seats in the EP is not an obstacle to an agreement between the Heads of State and Government on 18 and 19 October. If the Portuguese Presidency intends to try to resolve this issue in Lisbon, during the informal European Council, the question of the distribution of seats can be tackled at a later date, even after the ratifications have taken place, said the President of the Italian Council. Italy takes the view that the seats should be divided up on the basis of the number of citizens of each country and does not agree with the “other principles”, on which the Lamassoure/Severin formula is based, he stated.
Another subject on the agenda of the forthcoming informal Summit: Italy is “on the same wavelength” as the recent communication of the Commission on the external dimension of the Lisbon strategy (EUROPE 9515 and EUROPE Documents No. 2467), continued Mr Prodi. On the subject of Galileo, “Italy firmly supports a Community financial commitment to cover outstanding needs” and will “work to attain the compromise solutions which will be necessary” if an agreement is to be reached, he added. The funding of the European satellite radio navigation project, which is on the agenda of this week's Ecofin Council, still divides the Member States (EUROPE 9519). The subject, on which we have “already wasted too much time”, as Mr Prodi put it, will be on the table of the Finance Ministers in November. (ab)