Posted on 01/15/2003 3:04:46 PM PST by knighthawk
PARIS (Reuters) - France and Germany will propose a dual presidency for the European Union today, telling the convention on the continent's future both the European Commission and EU member states should have stronger leaders.
French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder have agreed to split the difference between their competing visions of the EU's future by proposing more powerful heads for the Commission and the European Council.
The proposal, to be sent on Wednesday to a group drawing up an EU constitution, blends France's wish to defend member states' powers through an enhanced Council and Germany's goal of a Europe more integrated through a stronger Commission.
"Once again, we have shown the French-German motor, which is so important for European integration, works well," Chirac said after a working dinner with Schroeder in Paris.
Critics say boosting both bodies will further complicate decision-making in the EU, which will expand from 15 to 25 or more members in coming years, but the deal looked likely to become the model for the EU's future leadership.
BOTH SIDES GET SOMETHING
Chirac and Schroeder skirted around the issue of how a dual presidency would work, emphasising instead how the deal struck was an ideal compromise for both countries.
They admitted they had originally held positions quite far apart from each other on the EU presidency, a key issue at the constitutional convention chaired by former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
"France accepted that the President of the Commission be elected by the European Parliament," Chirac told journalists after the dinner.
The Commission head is currently proposed by member states and ratified by the Parliament.
"Germany accepted that the European Council is chaired by a president elected by the European Council with a qualified majority for five years or a renewable 2-1/2 year term."
The European Council presidency currently rotates among the 15 members every six months, leaving each country in the chair for only a short period and undermining continuity.
Schroeder said it was not hard for him to accept the compromise because it respected Germany's concern to strengthen key institutions as the EU expands.
"This not only strengthens the Commission, but also the European Parliament, which was also important for us," he said.
Schroeder added that France and Germany would also propose a European foreign minister who would be "attached to the Council" but also be "integrated into the Commission".
AIMING FOR UNANIMITY
Chirac and Schroeder also agreed on a joint declaration on further bilateral cooperation to be unveiled on January 22, the 40th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty which sealed the two countries' friendship after World War Two.
The two leaders have been eager to restart the so-called Franco-German motor, which has driven developments in EU affairs in the past but been troubled recently amid disputes over funding and voting rights in the bloc.
Chirac gave no details of the agreement. Press reports say Paris and Berlin will announce new cooperation pacts in areas such as policing, education and labour.
Call for two-headed EU stirs unease
By Gareth Jones
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - A call by France and Germany for a dual presidency of the European Union has cheered supporters of the nation state but stirred unease in the European Commission and small states seeking closer integration.
France and Germany agreed on Tuesday to push for a powerful new president of the European Council -- which groups EU member states -- who would serve for up to five years alongside the president of the executive Commission.
Germany, which shares the preference of many smaller states for a federal Europe, accepted the idea of a new presidency only after France agreed to beef up the supranational Commission, which represents the common EU interest.
Under the plan, to be submitted on Wednesday to a group drawing up an EU constitution, the president of the Commission would be elected directly by the European Parliament, thus gaining in political legitimacy and clout.
Though details of the Franco-German plan remain sketchy, smaller countries quickly homed in on the potential for confusion that a dual presidency could create.
"We are in favour of the president of the European Commission being elected by the European Parliament but against another president being picked from among government leaders," said Dutch Foreign Ministry spokesman Floris van Hoevell.
"We have quite a few questions, for instance what would happen with a government leader as president (of the European Council) if his own government falls," he said.
FEAR OF BIG STATES
However the compromise between Europe's two central powers with very different forms of government seemed likely to reflect the eventual convergence point for the wider EU.
Advocates of a semi-permanent Council president -- which include Britain and Spain as well as France -- argue that he or she, chosen from the ranks of serving or former prime ministers, would give the EU a public face, improve delivery on policies and provide an interlocutor for the U.S. president.
Smaller countries fear that this president would inevitably reflect the interests of the larger states and rob them of their turn at leading the Union under the current six-month rotation system.
Greece, which currently holds the EU presidency, echoed the Netherlands, welcoming the proposal to elect the Commission president but expressing reservations over a Council president.
"We would want to look at it in greater depth. What matters is the balance (between the different institutions)," Greece's European Affairs Minister Tassos Giannitsis told reporters.
Small countries traditionally look to the Commission to protect their interests. The Commission itself reacted guardedly on Wednesday to the Franco-German plan.
"We could face potential problems having two centres of power at the same level...But it would be rash to comment now as we have not seen the details," said spokesman Jonathan Todd.
Commission President Romano Prodi told Reuters in an interview last November that a president of the Council would inevitably clash with his own successors. "A double bureaucracy, a double executive power would be a disaster," he said then.
NATION STATE AS CORE
Reaction was far more positive from those politicians who see the nation state as the essential building block in any future constitutional architecture for the EU.
"I have always maintained that the European Union (Council) needs to have a presidency, the Commission needs to have a presidency and the Parliament needs to have a presidency," Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said in Madrid.
A British diplomat said he believed London would also welcome the Franco-German plan. "We have always said we need to strengthen both the Council and the Commission," he said.
Not all small EU member states oppose a long-term president of the Council. For example, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen was expected to give qualified backing for the idea.
"It would create continuity and...clarity and balance in relations with the European Commission," he said, according to a draft speech obtained by Reuters.
But Rasmussen, seen by some as a possible candidate after his outstanding tenure of the EU presidency in the last six months, also suggested that the post be rotated every five years among representatives of small, medium-sized and large countries to prevent domination by the big powers.
"There has to be clear guarantees which ensure that large and small countries are equal," he said.
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Meanwhile both of their economies are going into the tank and both face sanctions from the EU!
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