EUROPEAN CONVENTION: COMMISSION AND PARLIAMENT SEAL ALLIANCE TO STAND UP TO COUNCIL.

• Position: Brief Article

"It was important that the European Commission as an institution should offer up its vision, which is music to our ears, and it was equally important that its President should report to Parliament as would a Head of Government", said Inigo Mendez de Vigo (EPP-ED, Spain), a member of the Convention Praesidium. PES President Enrique Baron Crespo suggested: "This is an fitting initiative, a score on which we can work, i.e. overhaul the Community method by giving it a constitutional framework". Speaking on behalf of his group, Karin Riis-Jorgensen (ELDR, Denmark) took a similar line, urging the Commission to "adopt an offensive stance towards the Council's efforts to undermine its right of initiative". She suggested that "the Member States are seeking to draw power towards themselves and are threatening the Community equilibrium". Sylvia Yvonne Kaufmann (EUL, Germany) concurred, denouncing the "Council's imperialism". Greens co-President Monica Frassoni only regretted that a text she otherwise approved remained ambiguous in referring to "a constitutional Treaty and not a European Constitution".Not surprisingly, the UEN and EDD took a less enthusiastic line. Gerard Collins (UEN, Ireland), without denying the Commission's "key role", rejected any moves to strengthen the Community executive. "There is no European Government and the Commission should not aspire to play this role". Convention member Jens Peter Bonde, President of the EDD group, stuck an ironic note in...