EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: ROMANO PRODI CALLS FOR EU-WIDE TAX REGIME.

"The international and internal conditions for the real politicisation of the European integration process have now been met: the time has come to take our future in hand and to shape it. The time has come to build a political Europe. By redefining the European project and making our objectives quite clear, we can ensure that Europeans take charge of Europe", Mr Prodi said. "In this sense, I share the opinion expressed yesterday by the French Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin", the Commission President went on to say. "In the debate that has got under way and is to last until 2004, I observe two approaches: some are more interested in issues of substance, others are more interested in the institutions", he remarked. "I see no contradiction between the two approaches.... If we have no common project and no common policies, we will not have a strong Europe", he went on. "But after that, once we have defined the substance, we must very quickly move on to draw the consequences of our ambitions.... That is why Chancellor Schroder is right to propose that we clarify the respective roles of the Commission and the Council", argued Mr Prodi, adding that his plan "is to work to bring these two approaches closer together"."We have now reached a critical point: after decades of progress and success, the Union cannot stop in midstream. Without fresh impetus, and if the Member States and the Community institutions do not dig in their spurs, the unification of the continent brought by the forthcoming enlargement could prove merely superficial", Mr Prodi warned, adding: "Where citizens are looking for a fairer society, they would find only a free-trade area. I do not want to see the Union turn into a grouping of states which is unable to act and develop any political vision". "At the end of the day, I come to the cautious conclusion that the Union's present structure, encompassing both the Community pillar and the intergovernmental circles, is probably outdated." Even when discussing majority voting, Mr Prodi came back to this isue: "Every lasting achievement in Europe has been built through the harmonious...