Not-so-grey pragmatist with passion for a united Europe

IF the German Chancellor, Dr Helmut Kohl, occasionally conjures up the absence of European war to justify his great European vision, it is not, one suspects, what would come naturally to his compatriot, Klaus Hansch.

The quiet, measured pragmatist who is President of the European Parliament sees the binding cement of Europe in different terms for the younger Interrail generation. They see the need for Europe in issues like pollution which they understand can only be dealt with on a community basis. Nor is the lure of nationalism as potent as it was, he argues.

Mr Hansch, born in 1938, knew the war only as a child but narrowly missed being in Dresden when it was destroyed. In 1945, his family fled ahead of the Red Army from their native Silesia in the east for the sleepier launder of Schleswig Holstein. Those memories shaped a passionate commitment to a united Europe.

A Social Democrat, he was the first of his family to go to university, and then went on to work for the party, serving as a member of the parliament since 1979. He has won respect right across the House and among member states for his accessibility, straight dealing, common sense and firmness. Once describing himself for a magazine article as "small, slight, wearing glasses, grey, serious" he has assiduously avoided the pomp that could surround him. Few think him grey.

More crucially, Klaus Hansch represents a generation of MEPs determined to show by their actions that the parliament can be trusted with real power.

The gradual increase in parliament's powers to amend legislation, approve the budget, approve the President of the Commission, and vote no confidence in the Commission, have been used, by and large, with care.

His kind heave their majorities in all the main parties, Socialists, Christian Democrats, Liberals, and many of the smaller, and pitch their demands for greater influence in the EU's legislative system at a level that takes account of the reality that national governments will only cede so much.

Mr Hansch puts the parliament's position in the treaty changing Inter Governmental Conference in simple terms. Parliament does not want to rule the roost but to be put on an equal footing with the Council of Ministers for all EU legislation except treaty changes or other fundamental issues.

That means simplifying the 23 different types of procedure now used to about three, but primarily significantly extending what is known as co decision under which both ministers and MEPs have equal rights to block legislation and must go through a conciliation procedure where they are deadlocked.

The extension of co decision is supported by 13 out of 15 member states to some extent - France is sceptical, Britain downright hostile. But the changes being sought in the institutional balance by the parliament are quantitative not qualitative and appear likely to be substantially acceded to.

Even Mr Hansch's call for the election by the parliament of the President of the Commission may be met half way by member states who will insist on the right to retain their nomination rights but may be prepared to allow MEPs to pick between two or three candidates.

Is he confident the IGC will get the balance right this time? "With the Irish in charge, yes", he laughs.

Although an old hand in parliament, Mr Hansch has shown himself willing to take on some of the practices, such as scams on travel and assistants, that have given it a bad name.

And although he admits the system may not yet be ideal he has overseen a tightening last year of the rule governing payment of travel expenses - now MEPs have to include a written undertaking that their claim is for travel actually undertaken.

He hints that he would be willing to go further. To do so, however, he says, would require a majority, but he encourages with enthusiasm those with evidence of individual wrongdoing to give him the evidence, promising to take action.

Public misconceptions about the parliament can be countered, he believes, by encouraging the hordes of visitors who fill the halls every day. But he passionately defends the need for internal travel. If the parliament is to enact Europe wide polices, he argues, "I must be able to show members of the parliament from Greece or Spain my own constituency in order to make them aware of the realities of a constituency based on coal and steel." That is true, he says, of all MEPs.

He has visited Ireland on a number of occasions over nearly 20 years and says enthusiastically he has been introduced to Kerry by the man who "owns the constituency" - a rather free translation by his interpreter, which, one suspects, Dick Spring would cavil at. He welcomes the priorities of the Irish presidency, the fight against unemployment and drugs, and preparation of the IGC and monetary union.

The events in Portadown worry him and he appeals to both governments and peoples to keep working at the peace process. "It's important not to dwell on the past, but on constructing the future," he says. "Both sides are supposed to be guided by Christian principles and must recognise that this can only be achieved if they are willing to forgive."