THE forthcoming Inter Governmental Conference would be about nothing less than the fixture of the European Union, Prof Brigid Laffan of University College Dublin said yesterday.

EU enlargement was straining its capacity to reconcile the needs and interests of its larger and smaller members, she said.

She was one of four members of the Institute for European Affairs who appeared yesterday before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs.

Prof Laffan said the bigger member states were seeking more power to reflect their greater influence. They wanted to change the voting system in the Council of Ministers where each member state had an equal vote irrespective of its size.

Another item on the agenda was whether each member state was capable of assuming the rotating presidency, according to Prof Laffan. She said the idea was being floated of a team presidency in which a number of member states would hold the position simultaneously, and for a period of more than six months.

The Dublin Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, criticised the committee for giving taxpayers, money to the Institute for European Affairs. She claimed the institute had a "Eurofederalist agenda" and its report on Ireland's position for the Inter Governmental Conference was "highly biased and often bordering on propaganda".