Reform of EU institutions necessary for enlargement, `wise men' say

The Amsterdam Treaty, the ink on which is barely dry, failed to confront the implications of enlargement for the efficient management of the EU, the former Belgian prime minister, Mr JeanLuc Dehaene, said yesterday.

Mr Dehaene, presenting his radical "wise men's" report on the reform of the EU's institutions, insisted that comprehensive changes in decision-making structures were necessary and urgent, and needed to be in place by the end of 2000 to pave the way for enlargement.

These, the report suggests, would involve a dramatic reduction in member-state veto rights.

The report, also signed by the British Labour peer, Lord Simon, and the former German president, Mr Richard von Weizsacker, will be debated tomorrow by the Commission. The report was commissioned by the Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi.

Responding to suggestions that the paper reflected a seriously federalising agenda, Lord Simon insisted: "I don't think the document is about fanciful political constructs, but how to manage the institutions better when we enlarge." Yet it is unlikely to be seen elsewhere in such an unpolitical light.

On one of Ireland's key preoccupations, defence, the report is somewhat oblique, initially referring to the need to implement the conclusions of the Cologne summit at which the EU agreed to asset-strip the WEU of its peacekeeping capabilities.

But it goes on to refer to the "integration of WEU into the EU", precisely what Ireland and fellow neutrals had sought to prevent because of its implication of a mutual defence commitment.

Mr Dehaene insisted that the common defence argument had significantly advanced since Amsterdam, most notably in terms of British support for a European autonomous capacity. But he conceded that "if we can do the first part alone [Cologne] it would be enormously important".

Irish diplomatic sources insist the implementation of the Cologne decisions on expanding the EU's capabilities in the field of what are known as Petersberg Tasks should not require treaty changes which Ireland is likely to oppose strongly.

The report confines itself, except on defence, to institutional reforms, rather than adding new competences to the EU. It makes the case both for changes which would simplify day-to-day decision-making and in terms of amending the treaty in future, and for a review of the flexibility clauses of the Amsterdam Treaty to remove the unanimity requirement.

The latter provision had been won by Ireland after a hard-fought defensive battle.

Voting by qualified majority in the Council of Ministers should be the rule in an enlarged community. That necessity is self-evident, the report says. "When unanimity is required, the risk of blockages increases in due proportion with the number and diversity of participants."

And that logic should apply to large parts of the treaty too. The group argues that the treaty should be split in two between the core constitutional elements, involving aims and objectives, the institutional framework, and a basic statement of citizens' rights elements and the implementing elements concerning detailed policy.

The former treaty could be amended, as currently, by unanimity at an IGC with all its attendant individual ratifications in the member-states, the latter, much more simply, by decisions of the European Council either by a heavy majority or in some cases by unanimity. And Lord Simon made it clear, for example, that he believed that taxation was likely to remain a unanimity issue.

The report also urges the extension of MEPs' rights to vote on legislation to all areas where majority voting is applicable in the Council of Ministers. And it backs the retention of one commissioner per member-state, but suggests increasing the power of the President to pick and organise his team.

Online: The Irish Times - www.ireland.com

The Institutional Implications of Enlargement can be accessed through The Irish Times website at www.ireland.com.