Sarkozy urges mini-treaty to undo EU constitution crisis

FRANCE: Nicholas Sarkozy, favourite to be the next French president, yesterday laid claim to the leadership of the EU, calling…

FRANCE: Nicholas Sarkozy, favourite to be the next French president, yesterday laid claim to the leadership of the EU, calling for a "mini-treaty" to unblock the political crisis provoked by the rejection last year of the new constitution.

The interior minister and chairman of the governing centre-right UMP party, courted by Britain for his liberal economic policies, launched a savage onslaught on the need for unanimity in key EU policy decisions in a move that will horrify British prime minister Tony Blair and his presumed successor, Gordon Brown.

In a speech to the Friends of Europe think-tank setting out his "vision" of the EU's future, Mr Sarkozy urged the creation of ad-hoc groups of countries ("an open avant-garde") empowered to forge ahead with common policies, leaving others behind; the formation of pan-European political parties; and handing powers to the European Commission president to choose his own team of commissioners.

Demanding a watertight definition of Europe's frontiers, he made plain that Turkey should never be allowed to join and accession talks should be frozen until Ankara opened its ports and airports to Cyprus, in effect recognising the EU's 25th member.

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Mr Sarkozy arrived in the EU capital fortified by a poll in Le Figaro showing him, at 36 per cent, marginally ahead of Ségolène Royal, the most-favoured socialist candidate with 34 per cent, in voting intentions for the first round of next May's presidential elections.

Ms Royal is due in Brussels next week to set out her own EU vision. Both are seeking to break out of the European paralysis left by 11 years under outgoing president Jacques Chirac.

In an ambitious speech, Mr Sarkozy said an "out-of-steam" Europe was in a "silent but profound crisis" and the model of the last 50 years since the Treaty of Rome "is no longer adapted to the world of today".

He said the plan to revive the constitution was a "lie" and Europe had "no time to lose".

The UMP leader said a "mini-treaty" designed to "burst the lock" on more efficient institutions could be drawn up under the German EU presidency in the first half of next year and completed, with approval by the then 27 national parliaments, under the French presidency in the second half of 2008.

A new "grand convention" on a full-scale constitution could begin work after the European Parliament elections in 2009.

This mini-treaty would extend the principle of qualified majority voting in the council of ministers, notably in judicial and penal matters. It would enable a long-term EU president and a pan-European foreign minister to be chosen and let MEPs elect the commission president.

Calling for "super-qualified majority voting" among EU ministers, allowing policies such as corporate tax harmonisation to be adopted with 70-80 per cent of the votes, Mr Sarkozy said: "A country should be able to say no but without this handicapping the others' plans.

"It is not conceivable that a single member state, nay two, can prevent the EU from advancing." -(Guardian service)