Brussels, 17/10/2007 (Agence Europe) - EU heads of state and government meeting on Thursday evening in Lisbon for a two-day informal European Council are expected to conclude the inter-governmental conference (IGC) and approve the new reform treaty. If negotiations on the treaty leave them with enough time, leaders will also debate the external dimension of the revamped Lisbon strategy on globalisation.
The informal summit opens on Thursday at 18: 00 with an IGC working meeting. It will be followed at 20: 00 with a working dinner during which the Portuguese presidency will strive to find solutions to the remaining problems pending. If necessary, this debate will continue on Friday morning at 10: 00. The presidency aims to conclude the meeting at 13: 00 with lunch and a press conference. On Thursday evening at the same time as the heads of state and government dinner, foreign affairs ministers will meet for a separate dinner during which they will discuss the Middle East peace process and the situation in Lebanon.
Treaty. The Portuguese presidency is “very optimistic”. It believes that the last remaining problems still blocking an agreement on the treaty can be settled at Lisbon. “The will is there”, the presidency happily announced. Although the purely legal provisions of the treaty (including the different British, Irish and Polish derogations) approved by member states' legal experts are no longer opposed by anyone, Monday's General Affairs Council enabled the Portuguese presidency to clearly mark out the final remaining questions (EUROPE 9523): the Polish request to transform the “Ioannina clause” (a simple declaration dating back to 1994) into primary law by including it in the treaty or protocol; the Italian request to revise the European Parliament's revised formula on seat distribution at the EP, by taking the basis of the calculation into account as the number of its “citizens” not the number of nationals of each member state; the Austrian request to include a provision in the treaty that would enable member states to manage as they see fit the question of university access (as a “service of general interest”); the Bulgarian request to write Euro in Cyrillic (“evro”) in the Bulgarian version of the treaty; the Czech request aiming to limit the Commission's right of initiative and including a provision in the treaty that would oblige the Commission to withdraw a legislative proposal if the Council made the demand (EUROPE 9524).
One of the questions, European student access to Austrian universities (EUROPE 9523), already appears to be in the process of being settled, insofar as the European Commission announced on Wednesday that it may decide to suspend the infringement procedure against Austria for non-respect of the European Court of Justice ruling of 2005, in the next few weeks (for a period of five years). This will give the Austrian authorities more time to prove that abolition of the current system of quotas (particularly in medicine, with a high German attendance level) could have serious repercussions on the efficient functioning of the health sector in Austria. It remains to be seen whether Vienna interprets the Commission offer as sufficient for not making a link with this issue at the Lisbon IGC. On Wednesday Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer stressed that he did not want to create any obstacles to adoption of the treaty but did say that he wanted the Lisbon summit to produce the ingredients for a “future solution” to the problem of access to Austrian universities.
In a letter of invitation to his counterparts, the Portuguese prime minister and current president of the European Council, José Socrates, underlined the importance of getting an agreement on the treaty. He wrote: “Adopting the text of the treaty means not only that the EU will be able to concentrate its efforts on questions which more directly affect and concern its citizens, but also that it will be able to do so more efficiently”.
Lisbon strategy. In his letter to the leaders, Mr Socrates added: “I wish to take advantage of the Lisbon meeting to discuss how to develop the external dimension of the Lisbon strategy”. To this end he called on the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso to make a presentation focusing on two specific subjects: financial markets and the EU's political response to the recent turbulence on the sub-prime mortgage market, and climate change.
Mr Barroso also intends to raise, among the leaders, the question of protection for strategic European sectors (especially energy) against sovereign funds. The Commission supports a “European approach” in this area, which does not necessarily mean that that common European regulation is necessary, explained Barroso. He also explained that before coming out with more concrete proposals on the matter, the Commission wants to consult heads of state and government.
José Manuel Barroso: “no reason for not finding an agreement on Lisbon treaty”
Addressing the press on Wednesday just before leaving for Lisbon, the president of the Commission, José Manuel Barroso, called on the EU27 to reach an agreement and conclude the institutional debate that has already gone on “for too long, six years”. Mr Barroso hammered home the fact that all the problems on the table could be overcome with a little political will: “There is no reason not to agree in Lisbon. No-one can have an interest in making this summit fail”. The president of the Commission stressed that once the treaty is approved the EU can focus on what should be at the heart of its politics: finding solutions to real problems and fears of citizens, especially globalisation. He said that the treaty is indispensable if they are going to get there and that “reform of the treaty is necessary to reform Europe”.
Barroso also touched on some of the questions pending: distribution of seats at the EP - “I hope that a solution can be found. I cannot imagine a country like Italy, which has always been in the forefront of European unification, blocking adoption of the treaty”. Mr Barroso pointed out that from a legal point of view, the treaty could easily be approved without an agreement on seats until 2009; Czech demand on Commission's compulsory legislative proposals - this is “unacceptable” because it directly affects the Commission's right of initiative. “I hope this Czech demand will be rejected”; writing Euro in Bulgarian - Mr Barroso affirmed that “We live in a multicultural and multilingual community. This therefore involves a very serious question”, and he underlined the fact that the EU “obviously” did not intend to harmonise alphabets. “Bulgaria has the right to write the word Euro in its own alphabet (Cyrillic)” and a practical solution is expected to this problem, “but the solution should not be a condition for approving the treaty”; High Representative (HR) for foreign and security policy - the Commission is “open” to examination of the question raised by the EP, namely at what moment and by whom the HR should be appointed and when he would assume his functions in the event that the treaty entered into force, as planned on 1 January 2009. The EP considers that there will be a real problem given that the HR will also take part, as vice president, in the new Commission, which is expected to be confirmed by the EP in summer 2009 (see other article). (H.B.)