Commission hopes to extend mandate

WHO represents the member states of the EU at the World Trade Organisation? On most issues it's quite clear the Commission.

But with the WTO extending its remit to areas like services, intellectual property, and investment, the situation has become markedly less certain.

Officials at work this week in the treaty changing Inter Governmental Conference reported progress in clarifying the issues at stake in the Commission's hope to see its mandate extended to these areas.

Determined to ensure that the EU maintains its credibility by speaking in world trade forums with one voice, the Commission has proposed the amendment of Article 113 of the Maastricht Treaty to allow it to represent the Union, subject to trade negotiation mandates and any final deals being agreed by ministers, by qualified majority vote.

Opposition to extending the Commission's role by the British is compounded by the wish of some countries to specifically exclude giving the Commission such a role in bodies like the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.