EUROPEAN CONVENTION: PRAESIDIUM BACKS GISCARD'S POWER SHIFT TO LARGE MEMBER STATES.

Beefing up the European Council.

The final proposals for Title IV of Part I of the draft Constitutional Treaty which were officially presented to the Convention's plenary session on April 24 were only modified to a limited extent by the Praesidium which had worked until midnight the day before on the basis of a draft prepared by the Convention President (see European Report 2770, same Section). The proposals still call for a President of the European Council to be appointed by qualified majority of EU leaders for two and a half years with the possibility of being renewed once. One idea which was dropped, however, was the suggestion of having a Vice-President who would chair the General Affairs Council. Mr Giscard d'Estaing was also convinced to backtrack on his proposal to create a seven-person bureau to oversee the work of the Council. Instead, the Council has the option to set up a team of three. These board members would be subject to a system of "equitable rotation" so that all Member States got a chance to hold the key positions.

Presenting the proposals to the Convention plenary, Mr Giscard d'Estaing tried hard to dispel fears that his plans to boost the role of one institution (i.e. the European Council) necessarily meant weakening the others. "I think that it is perfectly possible to upgrade the system so that all three corners of the institutional triangle benefit", he told delegates. The Convention President said that it was essential to have a "functioning institutional triangle which was firing on all cylinders", especially with the prospect of enlargement to a Union of 25. Commenting on his suggestion to create a board within the European Council, he said that would be necessary to ensure continuity with a 25-member EU. Every local or regional council had such a thing, he pointed out.

QMV.

The other change made by the Praesidium to Mr Giscard d'Estaing's initial draft was on the definition of a qualified majority to be used when the European Council or the Council of Ministers is voting. Whereas the Convention President had initially proposed a majority of Member States plus two-thirds of the population of the European Union, the proposals now say three-fifths, which reduces the majority needed from 66% to 60% of the EU's citizens. Speaking to the Convention, Mr Giscard d'Estaing insisted that this would allow smaller Member States to oppose decisions. He admitted, however, that several members of the Praesidium had been keen...