EUROPEAN COUNCIL: ENLARGED EUROPE DIVIDED OVER INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS.

The enlarged Union broadly resembles the fifteen member EU with a persistent cleavage that has now even deepened between the large and small Member States. Before the opening of the Council session, Sixteen Heads of State and Government (Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Portugal, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Greece, Cyprus and Malta) met to signal their opposition to the appointment of a permanent President of the European Council, a concept defended by the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, with the implicit support of Valery Giscard d'Estaing. "It was important to demonstrate that the consensus evoked by Mr Giscard d'Estaing on this question is a fallacy", Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker explained. "Some want stability whilst others believe permanence at the European Council raises a problem of institutional balance", said Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis, who made little effort to reconcile views. Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Manuel Durao Barroso argued that "if the Convention must reflect a consensus, it should be that of the majority". The Convention President has however stuck to his guns: "Account must be taken of the Member States but also of the population, and a large majority of Europe's citizens support the notion of a more stable Presidency", said Mr Giscard d'Estaing, whilst adding that he has taken note of "extreme and moderate positions". France's President Jacques Chirac insisted "all must show flexibility as we ourselves have demonstrated with Germany", insisting that "all must see themselves reflected in the European institutions".

The small countries faction is itself subject to fluctuation. It is worth noting that the Athens sixteen are not the same as those that jointly signed a letter on this theme on April 1 when seven countries met in Luxembourg (see European Report 2765 for further details). It is also noticeable that Benelux has rallied to the conservative position of some like Portugal and Ireland, which are keen to fully maintain the half-yearly revolving Presidency at the head of the Council, though Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg are open to a stable Presidency for the General Affairs and External Relations Council. Likewise, Sweden and Denmark moved away in Athens from the group of small countries which they had previously backed, Stockholm and Copenhagen now siding with alternative formulas...