The European Commission and members of the Convention on the Future of Europe have reacted with outrage to a proposal by the convention's president, Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, for a radical overhaul of EU institutions.
The Government will vigorously oppose the proposals if they emerge as part of the convention's final report, the Irish representative, Mr Dick Roche, said. The Minister of State for European Affairs said the possibility of the convention now finding consensus on the institutional reform of the EU is "very slim".
Mr Giscard has asked the convention's 12-person praesidium to approve a range of reforms, including the appointment of a permanent president of the European Council, where EU leaders meet. The Commission and most small EU member-states oppose the appointment of an EU president on the grounds it would undermine the Commission's authority and increase the influence of bigger countries.
In an attempt to pacify the small states, Mr Giscard has proposed an additional post of vice-president of the council, suggesting that, if the president is from a big country, the vice-president should be from a smaller one. The reform would mean the end of the six-month rotating presidency but Mr Giscard suggests that "an element of rotation" could be preserved for such councils as justice and home affairs and economic and financial affairs.
The president and vice-president would be surrounded by a seven-member bureau that would include an EU foreign minister, two serving EU leaders and the presidents of the Commission and the European Parliament. But the Commission would be reduced from its present 20 to just 11, along with 12 "advisers".
Mr Giscard wants to limit the number of MEPs to 700 and to give each country a number of European Parliament seats in direct proportion to their population. This would mean that small countries, such as Ireland, would lose a number of European parliament seats while large countries would gain.
Speaking in Dublin, Mr Roche said the former French president's ideas run counter to those shared by the 22 countries who have signed up to Ireland's preference for modest changes. "It is very clear that the vast majority of member-states and those who will shortly become member- states take a very different view from the convention president."
The approach could leave the convention unable to agree large sections of its work. "It could mean that it would put forward alternatives and square brackets.
"That will mean a much bigger role for the inter-governmental conference than had been anticipated. It you can't get consensus at the convention it will have to be hammered out at the IGC."
The influence wielded by arch-federalists such as Mr Giscard and others at the helm of the convention has for long worried more conservative opinion. "There has been concern that the praesidium of the convention has been dominated by a group of people with a particular mind-set," said Mr Roche.
However, he quickly excluded the Irish representative on the praesidium, former Taoiseach, Mr Bruton. "He has to maintain confidentiality, like the others."
Mr Bruton said last night the proposals had been modified during discussions yesterday. But he said he was unhappy with the proposed changes to the composition of the Commission and that the praesidium was not united behind all aspects of the proposals. "Considerable progress has been made during the day towards redressing the imbalances but we are far from there yet."
In an unusually strongly worded statement, the Commission said Mr Giscard's proposals would undermine the checks and balances in place between the EU institutions and lead to unequal treatment of member-states.
"Increasing the number of presidents and vice-presidents and setting up a 'bureau' can only bring confusion. Duplication of bureaucracies goes against common sense and against indications coming from all sides. Instead, our aim should be to simplify executive powers, not to allow them to proliferate."
Mr Roche described the proposals as a "mish-mash" of ideas backed by no strong intellectual argument. He predicted that EU governments will have to resolve their differences over institutional reform in the inter-governmental conference that will follow the convention.
"It seems to me that consensus in this area is not going to be possible at the convention," he said.
Ireland's EU Commissioner, Mr David Byrne, also condemned the proposals as running contrary to the interests of the EU as a whole. "This represents a major power grab by the large member-states to the detriment of the general community interest," he said.