INTER-GOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE: FOREIGN MINISTERS MOVE TOWARDS CONSTITUTIONAL COMPROMISE.

"We have thrown some light on the most difficult items so as to gear ourselves as effectively as possible for the key deadline of the EU Summit", according to Dominique de Villepin. This opinion is shared by his Spanish colleague, Ana Palacio, who believes we have seen the "demise of the illusory consensus behind the Convention". Conversely, the German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, said he was heading back home from Naples "more concerned than before", warning that there would be "a heavy price to pay if we fall back upon the Nice Treaty".

Qualified majority voting.

The Presidency did not outline any compromises for the thorniest institutional issues but Foreign Ministers still decided they should spend the morning of November 29 sifting through the problems and succeeded in identifying some avenues for further reflection, not least on the issue of qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers. Under Article I-24s.1, a majority would be achieved if a decision secures the backing of half the Member States representing three-fifths of the EU population. The never-ending campaign of resistance that Poland and Spain have been waging since the IGC kicked off on October 4 in Rome seems to have paid off in the end. "A compromise should be universally acceptable, which is not the case when there has to be a reprise of the Nice consensus", repeated the Polish Minister, Wlodzimierz Cimoszewiczqui who joined forces with his Spanish colleague in upholding the vote-weighting system the Nice Treaty established. This allows the pair to create a blocking minority almost on a par with that of the heavyweights. "Nice has shown how effective it really is", said Ana Palacio, highlighting recent decisions at the EcoFin Council which saw Germany and France succeed in blocking a decision with a narrow blocking minority.

Spain and Poland could already count on the support of Estonia and Malta, but the latest backing has come from the UK's Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who had already moved in this direction at the Ministerial IGC session on November 18 (see European Report 2821 for further details). He claims his country would be very comfortable with the Nice system and recommends a "review clause" for 2009, when the European Council might be called upon unanimously to decide whether to amend the system. The Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, has not ruled out a review clause. He leaped at the opportunity offered by a proposal for another system of qualified majority voting as a way out. "We could agree now on a new system for 2009 and we if we see at that time that the Nice system is working, we will decide what to do. If the Nice system is fine, there is no point in holding an IGC", Joschka Fischer retorted. His Danish colleague, Per Stig Moeller, is likewise not very keen on postponing the decision until later on.

The conclave saw many countries (Finland, Austria, Denmark, Greece, Ireland and Portugal) rise to the defence of double simple majority (half the Member States representing half the EU population), or (Sweden, Lithuania, Latvia, the Czech Republic) double qualified majority (two-thirds of Member States representing two-thirds of the EU population). Franco Frattini appears to be prepared to take account of both these alternative options in drawing up the compromise which the Presidency should be present before December 8 in anticipation of the European Council.

Composition of the Commission.

Another area where the Presidency seems to have backed off from its initial support for the Convention's stance is the...