SPAIN: The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, set off yesterday on a tour of European capitals that will take him to Dublin on Friday evening. The purpose of the visit is to prepare the way for this month's meeting of EU leaders in Seville and to assess the level of agreement on the summit's key issues.
For the Government, the priority is to secure a declaration by all 15 leaders guaranteeing that nothing in the Nice Treaty will affect Ireland's traditional, military neutrality. The declaration is a central element in the Government's strategy for persuading voters to approve the treaty in a second referendum later this year.
The summit will also discuss the negotiations with candidate countries, which are entering their most difficult phase. The Spanish presidency will seek, in particular, to establish a common negotiating position on agriculture, one of the most sensitive issues for EU member-states and aspiring members alike.
Member-states are divided over whether to extend direct payments to farmers in the candidate countries, with a "northern alliance" led by Germany and Britain arguing that such a move would impose an intolerable financial burden on the EU. Ireland, France and some others are eager to preserve the direct payments system, which accounts for a large part of farmers' incomes.
The most far-reaching decisions at Seville, however, could concern changes to the decision-making process in the EU with a radical reform of the Council of Ministers. The Council of Ministers is the forum in which the 15 member-state governments are represented and where most important decisions are ultimately taken.
The leaders are expected to agree sweeping changes to the way the council operates, reducing the number of councils from the present 16 and conducting more business in public. None of the changes envisaged would require changes to EU treaties so they could be implemented without delay.
At present, the 16 councils bring together ministers of agriculture, justice, environment, etc., to discuss, amend or approve European Commission initiatives in their respective policy areas. The most powerful is the General Affairs Council, which is attended by the 15 foreign ministers.
Apart from discussing foreign policy matters, the General Affairs Council co-ordinates the work of the other councils. As its workload has expanded, the General Affairs Council has become increasingly unwieldy and the leaders are expected to agree at Seville to divide it in two.
The foreign ministers would continue to take responsibility for foreign policy but a new co-ordinating council would be attended by Ministers for European Affairs, who are likely to be directly answerable to the 15 prime ministers. The change would probably make EU decision-making more efficient but it could lead to a significant weakening of the influence of foreign ministries and to a centralisation of EU policy-making in prime ministers' offices.
The leaders are also expected to improve the efficiency of their own meetings, called the European Council, by agreeing a code of conduct. Prime ministers' personal representatives would prepare meetings more thoroughlyand would, for example, prepare in advance the basis of summit conclusions.Council of Ministers meetings take place behind closed doors, making the EU one of a handful of legislatures throughout the world that votes in secret. After Seville, the ministers are likely to vote in public but the discussions that precede the voting will remain hidden.
Many of the reform proposals to be presented at Seville are uncontroversial but there are signs that some large member-states are determined to make more sweeping changes. Britain and France suggested last month that the six-month, rotating presidency should be scrapped once the EU takes in new members and that a new President of the Council should represent the EU for a term of between two and five years.
Because the Anglo-French proposal would require changes to EU treaties, it is unlikely to become a realistic option until after the Convention on the Future of Europe completes its work next year. But some European integrationists fear that the proposals represent an attempt by EU leaders to hijack the Convention and to shift power away from the Commission and towards themselves.