EUROPEAN UNION: WAKE-UP CALL FROM FORMER EUROPEAN LEADERS.

EU:Debate on Europe's futureThe report says that "the real danger for Europe now is that everything may come to a halt. We always need temporary solutions which allow initiative from those who want to go faster and further". The text continues: "The shape of the 'Federation of Nation States, which is one of the founding fathers' projects, could generate a consensus which would be significant for the future". The report's authors make several institutional proposals:- "The Commission has the essential responsibility to bring out common interest: it would increase its democratic legitimacy if its Presidency and its composition was linked to European elections".- "The Council, which constitutes a collective expression of the interest of Member States, should in general vote by qualified majority. A central formation within the Council, i.e. the General Affairs council, should bring together Ministers who deal essentially with European affairs".- "The European Parliament should exercise all legislative and budgetary power through co-decision with the Council. Ad hoc Parliamentary conventions which include national parliaments, should have the power to debate certain revisions of Europe's constitutional arrangements, accession treaties as well as the direct financing of the Union". The authors of the report believe that the "community method will be more necessary than ever in an enlarged European Union, where decisions will be even more difficult to take". They add that temporarily more use should be made of reinforced co-operation between Member States outside the Treaty procedures as required, even if, where the re-launch of the European Union is concerned, such activities should in no way become a substitute for the normal decision taking process as laid down in the Treaties. If considerably more co-operation outside the treaties proves necessary, then it will need to be embedded in new structures so that such co-operation can be both consistent and transparent". This last part of the phrase...