INTER-GOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE: PREPARATIONS FOR FEIRA SUMMIT.

Come 15 June, the Presidency will be presenting its mid-term report on the first few months of negotiations under the IGC banner. The status of the talks on the leftovers from Amsterdam (altering the voting pattern, extending qualified majority voting, size and composition of the European Commission), along with certain allied institutional issues (reform of the judicial system, European Parliament, for example) are expected to be taken note of and that is all by EU leaders, even though one or two developments are taking place. For example, France now seems open to a debate on the idea of creating a double majority system in the Council (simple majority of Member States and demographic majority), whilst continuing to be rather keen on the vote reweighting system. The report will also feature the Presidency's proposal to alter the Treaty's Article 7 on measures to take against a Member States whose situation represents a serious and persistent violation of the EU's founding principles contained in Article 6.The IGC Ministerial session helped signpost other issues in anticipation of the Summit. For example, in spite of opposition from the Netherlands and Greece, a majority is evolving (with the movement being spearheaded by Finland, Sweden, Ireland and Spain) on the idea considering that the Common Defence and Security Policy does not require any institutional changes.Similarly, most countries (Belgium, Italy and Austria excepted) believe that the simplification should not appear on the IGC agenda. A consensus is emerging to demand that at the end of the IGC, a clause should be envisaged, in the context of the future Treaty, to provide for this opportunity in due course. The Ministers feel a similar clause should be considered for the Treaty's subsequent inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights. At this stage, owing to various, often conflicting reasons, the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Ireland uphold the idea of a mere declaration. The debate could, however, start up again at the EU Summit. The likes of Germany and the United Kingdom are not keen on the oral report by Roman Herzog, the President in charge of the Convention in charge of mapping out...