Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 2 Dec 1999

Vol. 512 No. 2

Written Answers. - EU Treaties Reform.

Liz McManus

Question:

32 Ms McManus asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government supports the proposals for reform of the EU Treaties produced by the group commissioned by the President of the EU Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25507/99]

Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Andrews)

The Cologne European Council in June confirmed its intention to convene an Intergovernmental Conference early in 2000. It stipulated that the conference should address three issues: the size and composition of the Commission; the weighting of votes in the council; and the possible extension of qualified majority voting in the council. However, it left open the precise scope of the agenda as it recognised that a limited number of other necessary treaty amendments could also be discussed.

In September, in his capacity as President designate of the Commission, Mr Prodi, appointed a group chaired by former Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, to advise the Commission, as one of the participants in the Intergovernmental Conference, on the institutional implications of enlargement.

The Dehaene report was submitted to the Commission and published on 18 October. It does not bind the council or the member states in any way. On 10 November, the Commission published its own first contribution to the preparation for the Intergovernmental Conference which reflected several of the ideas in the Dehaene report.

The Finnish Presidency, at the invitation of the Cologne European Council, is drawing up, on its own responsibility, for the European Council meeting in Helsinki on 10 and 11 December a report taking stock of options. The presidency will, of course, be taking into account the views of the Commission as well as those of member states. In finalising its report, the presidency will take account of initial discussions in Brussels as well as of bilateral contacts with the member states, including the views expressed to Prime Minister Lipponen in his pre-European Council tour of capitals. The scope of the Intergovernmental Conference is expected to be determined by the Heads of State or Government when they meet in Helsinki.

The Government can agree with a number of elements in the Dehaene report. It agrees, for example, on the importance of concluding the Intergovernmental Conference by the end of next year so as not to delay the enlargement process and of avoiding constant revisions of the treaties.

As regards the scope of the Intergovernmental Conference, the Dehaene report also identifies a number of institutional issues, closely related to those identified at Cologne, which could appropriately be addressed by the conference. These include an extension of the co-decision procedure with the European Parliament, the individual responsibility of commissioners within the commission and amendments relating the Court of Justice and the Court of Auditors.

However, in common with most member states, we tend to favour a relatively limited agenda for the Intergovernmental Conference and consequently do not favour the Dehaene report's suggestion that the agenda should be expanded to embrace issues such as flexibility or a reorganisation of the present treaties in such a way that a majority of the provisions could be amended in future without recourse to an Intergovernmental Conference.

As regards defence, work should proceed on the basis of the agreed and carefully balanced modalities laid down at Cologne which entrusted follow-up work to the Finnish Presidency which is due to present a progress report to Helsinki. We do not wish to prejudge the outcome of that separate process and do not, therefore, accept any implication in the Dehaene report that defence matters should feature in the next Intergovernmental Conference.

In view of the intergovernmental nature of the Intergovernmental Conference process, there appears to have been very little support for the Dehaene report's procedural suggestion that the Commission should be mandated to submit a draft treaty at the outset of the negotiations.

As regards the substance of the issues to be considered at the Intergovernmental Conference, Ireland is prepared to look at some reweighting of votes in the council if and only the larger member states are prepared to accept the principle of one commissioner per member state and to forego their right to nominate a second member of the Commission. The necessary linkage in this regard is not brought out as clearly as we would wish in the Dehaene report.

We can consider some further extension of qualified majority voting for normal community business. However, the suggestion in the Dehaene report that QMV should be the rule would be regarded by most member states as unrealistic. Unanimity should be retained in a number of sensitive areas including in particular, as far as we are concerned, the taxation area.