EU: The European Commission has proposed sweeping reforms for the European Union, including the abolition of national vetoes in all but the most sensitive policy areas, such as defence.
In a submission to the Convention on the Future of Europe, the Commission called for future Commission presidents to be elected by a two-thirds majority of the European Parliament and endorsed by member-states. Presenting the submission, the Commission President, Mr Romano Prodi, told the Parliament it aimed to make the EU more democratic and effective.
"The way towards that goal is not yet marked out in detail. But we know where we are starting from and we know where we want to get to. Tomorrow's reshaped Union must be built on its twofold legitimacy: it is after all a Union of peoples and of States. There is a third basis for the Union's legitimacy - the fact that it is there to defend the common interest. And the world's first true supranational democracy will stand at the finishing line. To give more democratic substance to our structure, we need to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the main institutions," he said.
The Commission rejects proposals for a strong president of the European Council who would represent the EU abroad. It calls for the appointment of a secretary of the EU who would combine the roles of the EU's foreign policy chief, Mr Javier Solana, and the External Affairs Commissioner, Mr Chris Patten.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, welcomed the Commission's submission, which he said he would study carefully. But he rejected the proposal to extend Qualified Majority Voting to almost all policy areas. "While we have always said that QMV should be - and, in fact, is - the norm, there are, and always will be, specific areas of national importance for member-states where unanimity is appropriate. This is a view shared by many partners. Each has its own sensitivities. For us, taxation is one such area," he said.
Speaking in Dublin after a meeting with the Danish Prime Minister, Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, said that Ireland had agreed at Nice to the extension of QMV in a number of areas, and was "open to looking at extending it in other areas. But there are areas where you should not have it, and taxation is one of those". He said the argument for abolishing the veto on tax issues "tends to come from those . . . who also have a federalist agenda". However, he said the US should be the model for those seeking a federal structure "and they don't keep changing their treaty-based constitution every four years".
He said he could not understand why the larger EU member-states were so concerned about tax rates in small countries where a few might have advantages but also an enormous amount of disadvantages.
"I agree with harmonising laws and QMV but I do not agree that it should be done in relation to tax harmonisation. This argument has always been put forward by the same individuals and we will continue to reject it." Mr Rasmussen, who is touring EU capitals in advance of next week's EU summit was more circumspect.
"I haven't had the opportunity to study this particular proposal. In general the Danish government is in favour of Qualified Majority Voting in more areas. But we will study this proposal in more detail before we make a final assessment," he said.
