CONVENTION ON EUROPE: EU plans must take account of its special structure, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing told Denis Staunton.
The chairman of the convention drawing up a new constitution for Europe has called into question the principle of equality between EU member-states.
In an interview with The Irish Times and other European newspapers yesterday, Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing rejected the demand of smaller countries that each EU member-state should have an equal right to representation on the Commission.
"I think the expression that is used is not an appropriate one because equality, what does it mean? You can speak of the equality of citizens, that people are equal. But states - they do not have the same economy, they do not pay the same contributions and no one proposes that they should," he said.
Mr Giscard was speaking after representatives from the EU's smaller states, led by the Minister for Europe, Mr Dick Roche, told him that any new system for appointing the Commission must guarantee equal representation for all states, regardless of population. But Mr Giscard said that new institutional arrangements must take account of the EU's "special structure" of a few large states and many small ones.
"We cannot ignore the population factor because all democracies today are based on the principle of one person one vote," he said.
Mr Giscard pointed out that, from next year, the large member-states would lose one of their two commissioners and for the first time, would be in a minority in the Commission. Mr Roche dismissed Mr Giscard's remarks as "particularly bogus arguments" that would make consensus more difficult to achieve at the convention. He said small states "bought and paid for" equal representation in the Commission at Nice when they accepted reduced voting weights in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
"These issues were resolved at Nice. They were not left over at Nice," he said.
Mr Giscard insisted that, since many Europeans, including members of the convention, were unhappy with Nice, the EU's new treaty must be an improvement.
"If you want to go back to Nice, we might as well stop working," he said.
Mr Roche said that the convention had no remit to unpick the agreements made at Nice and warned that renegotiating the deal made there could open a Pandora's Box.
"If Nice was so insignificant, why did Ireland have to have a referendum on it? Why did we have to have two?" he said.
The Convention on the Future of Europe this week debated proposals to reduce the size of the Commission to 15 members, with the Commission President free to choose his team without regard for their nationality. Most small states want to retain the right to one commissioner per member-state but some support a compromise proposed by the Benelux countries that would reduce the Commission to 15 members but would fill the places in rotation on the basis of equality between member-states.
Mr Giscard said he saw the merit of rotation in the Commission but insisted that it should not be too "systematic" and should leave the Commission president some freedom to choose his team.
"This rotation should be handled by the president because you need to have some flexibility to take account of particularly well qualified people. But there could be some rules or some indications to avoid an arbitrary rotation or the exclusion of certain countries," he said.
The convention yesterday expressed support for the creation of an EU foreign minister and many speakers called for more qualified majority voting on foreign policy issues. The French Foreign Minister, Mr Dominique de Villepin, said the EU's divisions over Iraq should not discourage European countries from working together more closely on defence and foreign policy issues.
"Far from discouraging us, the international context should lead us on the contrary to strengthen our united resources behind an ambitious foreign policy," he said.
Under the proposal being discussed at the convention, the EU foreign minister would combine the roles enjoyed at present by Mr Chris Patten and Mr Javier Solana. He would be a vice-president of the Commission but would be answerable to national governments meeting in the Council of Ministers.
The Dublin MEP, Mr Proinsias De Rossa, told the convention that Europe's external action in the world must remain true to fundamental principles, including support for multilateral institutions such as the UN.
"European Security and Defence Policy should be based on the principles set out for the Convention by the Heads of State at Laeken who spoke of Europe as a power wanting to change the course of world affairs in such a way as to benefit not just the rich countries but also the poorest. A power seeking to set globalisation within a moral framework, in other words to anchor it in solidarity and sustainable development," he said.
Mr Giscard welcomed the support shown for the creation of an EU foreign minister as evidence that the convention could achieve consensus.
"A few months ago, this was considered something very daring which would be contested, but now it is accepted," he said.
Mr Giscard suggested that the final text of the new constitution may not be complete in time for next month's meeting of EU leaders in Thessaloniki. But he expressed cautious optimism that the convention would succeed in overcoming its differences to agree on a single text.
"I am confident but not assured," he said.
