Sir, - Angela Grealy (May 28th) argues that the reweighting of votes at the European Council in favour of the larger states marks the creation of a "two-tier Europe" in which the power of the smaller member-states will be significantly diluted. Proponents of this argument chose to ignore three major points:
The smaller countries will gain influence in the Commission as the "big five" will lose their right to nominate a second Commissioner in 2005. If/when rotation of seats on the Commission begins (this will happen only if the EU reaches 27 member-states from its current 15), it will be on the basis of "strict equality" between the member states. Therefore Luxemburg, with a population of only 250,000, will have the same amount of time on the Commission as Germany, with a population of 80 million.
The reweighting of the votes in European Council is counterbalanced by the fact that, under the new rules, a majority of member-states as well as a qualified majority of votes will be needed to make a decision. This means it will be impossible for the larger states to force any measure through without the support of at least half of the smaller states.
Seven of 12 countries that have begun negotiations to join the EU have populations of fewer than 5.5 million. Six have smaller populations than Ireland. An enlarged EU will be dominated by smaller states which will have a majority on the Commission and will all have a seat at the Council regardless of weighted votes. It is also worth noting that even under the new rules, Ireland in cooperation with Lativa, Lithuania and Belgium, for example, will have more votes than Britain, France or Germany. - Yours, etc.,
Leo Varadkar, Vice-President, Youth of the European Peoples Party, c/o Young Fine Gael, Upper Mount Street, Dublin 2.