The European Parliament should not be given the sole power to elect the President of the European Commission, the chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs, Fine Gael TD, Mr Gay Mitchell, has declared.
Instead, Mr Mitchell has backed the Government's proposal that the next president should be appointed by an electoral college, made up of MEPs and national parliaments.
The future shape of EU institutions will be debated at a key meeting of the European Convention on the Future of Europe in Brussels on Thursday. So far, representatives from the larger member-states have called for the appointment of a figure to head up the European Council for a five-year term. They argue that changes must be made to the six month rotating presidency of the EU to make it more efficient and to give the EU a larger international profile. The smaller member-states have argued against such a move saying it would disturb the EU's carefully worked institutional balance.
Mr Mitchell said that it was "in Ireland's and indeed the EU's interest to ensure that the European Commission retains all of its current prerogatives".
The problems associated with six month presidencies could be overcome by creating team presidencies lasting two years to spread the workload and offer continuity, he said. "The rotating system of presidencies has been very valuable in bringing the Union closer to the individual citizen in each of the member-states during the six months of their presidency," he added. Larger states also back the appointment of an EU Minister for External Affairs, incorporating the roles held currently by EU High Representative, Mr Javier Solana, and External Relations Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten.
However, Mr Mitchell warned that there would have to be "clear accountability" to both the European Council and the Commission if these jobs are merged.
The veto would have to be retained by member-states for "sensitive areas" such as defence, while the powers and functions of an EU minister would have to be clearly defined. The use of qualified majority voting should be extended but not on defence and taxation "where Ireland would want to retain unanimous voting", he said.
