INTER-GOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE: GERMANY RESURRECTS IDEA OF FEDERAL EUROPE.

According to Joschka Fischer, the institutional structures of the European Union, which have only been slightly tinkered with since the days of the Treaty of Rome, risk grinding to a halt, unable to cope with enlargement of the EU to 27 or 30 countries, even if the Fifteen Member States manage to solve the "Amsterdam leftovers" at the IGC. The leftovers include a package of technical reforms of the size and composition of the Commission, extending qualified majority voting and the weighting of Council votes. "How long will Councils of Ministers go on for then - several days or even weeks?", asked Joschka Fischer sarcastically in a speech at Humboldt University in Berlin.His ambitious vision is like a three-part rocket which gains momentum after take-off. A new Europe will gradually emerge from the old Europe characterised by the Treaties of Rome, Amsterdam and maybe a future Nice Treaty of 27 or 30 Member States. The new Europe will be open to all Member States but will need a visionary avant-garde to drive it forward. The first stage would consist of "tighter co-operation" in certain areas with the Member States that want to be involved. The second stage would change the nature of the European Union by setting up a "centre of gravity" of a limited group of countries which would negotiate a new Treaty of Union which would lead on to the third stage, the European Federation, with a European government and a two-chamber Parliament. Although everyone would be free to join, in reality Europe would be divided into two parts - the politically advanced core and an older, larger and less integrated periphery.Mr Fischer now needs to convince his European partners. At the recent General Affairs Council in the Azores, the six Founder Members of the European Economic Community came out in favour of re-launching Political Union. This went no further than arguing for "tighter co-operation" and did not touch on the changes that Mr Fischer is now advocating. The other Member States reserved judgement (see European Report No 2499). Germany now hopes to enlist France, its historical partner, in its new venture. "Like after the Second World War - which, as almost always happens, became a Franco-German war - it will...