MEPs were busy this month reminding EU leaders not to get side-tracked at Amsterdam. Parliament wanted them to agree the necessary institutional changes to enable enlargement to take place. The European Parliament can veto the application of any new state for membership. There is a doubt as to whether some MEPs would be willing to use this power if government leaders remain unwilling to carry out the wholesale reforms necessary to run a union of 20-25 states.
The house will be digesting the outcome of the Amsterdam summit at a special session in Brussels on June 25th and 26th. There was support for a "flexible" interpretation of the Maastricht economic convergence criteria. We should prepare for the single currency, but with more emphasis on measures to create jobs. A large majority of MEPs also called for the introduction of proportional representation in the UK for the 1999 Euro-elections. This is now on the agenda again after Labour's new foreign secretary, Robin Cook, lent his support to the idea.