THE European Union "is bound to become a mere free trade area" unless it reforms its institutions, the President of the European Parliament, Dr Klaus Hansch, warned the European Council.
Such reform would require member states to make "not only financial but institutional sacrifices", he said. In particular, they would have to agree to accept majority decisions on EU legislation.
As long as you maintain the present system and seek individual cases for majority decisions, all your government departments at home will join in the search for such exceptions on the principle that others should make sacrifices, not them," Dr Hansch said.
Majority voting was needed to allow the Union to enlarge by permitting eastern European states to join. It is feared that without the introduction of majority voting to replace the system where each member state has a veto on many issues, decision making in a Union of 25 or more members will grind to a halt.
Speaking to the EU heads of state and government, Dr Hansch also demanded extra powers for the European Parliament. "The only institution that is directly elected cannot be denied a say in the decision making process for ever, he said.
He also called on the heads of government and state to enshrine employment policy in the new European treaties. This "may help to make the Treaty politically acceptable to millions of citizens".
The European public also expected the EU to produce a solution to growing international crime, including drug trafficking, trade in human beings and money laundering. "The international co operation provided for this in the third pillar of the Maastricht Treaty has been a failure," he said.
The Union, he said, might feel that it needed time to produce results on these issues. But "we will not be allowed any time by the public, who very rightly expect the Union will play its part in efforts to cope with unemployment and combat international crime".