PRESS RELEASE
European think-tank warns against drift to
intergovernmentalism
In the lead-up to this week's European Union summit in
Biarritz, The European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based
think-tank, has produced a detailed position paper which
makes a strong plea for the European Union to prepare for
enlargement of its membership by major reforms of its
decision-making system.
These reforms, The EPC insists, should be based on the
EU's institutions and its legal framework and not on a
loose form of cooperation between governments which has
so often failed in the past.
The EPC's position paper: "From Biarritz to Nice and
Beyond: Reform of the European Union" acknowledges that
there is a large measure of agreement among EU
governments on key objectives such as enlargement of the
Union, a stronger foreign and security policy, economic
reform and greater democratic accountability. But it
argues that recent statements by the Belgian prime
minister, the German Chancellor and the Italian prime
minister on the one hand, and the British and Swedish prime
ministers on the other, appear to show "a fundamental
difference of philosophy with regard to the approach
needed to deal with the many-faceted problems facing the
Union."
The central issue, according to The EPC, is whether
reform of the EU should be based on the Community method
or on more intergovernmentalism. "Experience shows that
without the Community method the great achievements of
the past decade such as the creation of the single market
and the single currency could never have happened. Far
from being a more democratic system intergovernmentalism
risks a serious alienation of the citizen from the EU and
its institutions," says The EPC. "Reliance on
intergovernmentalism will thus in effect frustrate the
stated ambitions of all the EU leaders to ensure that a
greatly enlarged Union is capable of meeting their
expectations and those of its peoples."
The EPC paper states that the successful conclusion of
the forthcoming Nice Summit is an essential precondition
to the next phase of development of the Union and argues
for:
* Enlargement of the Union is both an obligation and
a great opportunity. The candidate countries must be
able to join as soon as possible an efficient, democratic
and cohesive European Union.
> * The Community method should continue to be at the
centre of the progress towards European integration,
whereas intergovernmental cooperation can only be
accepted, as an intermediate stage, for specific new
policy areas.
> * The successful conclusion of the Nice Summit is
vital. >
> * The process for agreeing the comprehensive reform of the
> institutions and their functioning should be determined
at Nice.
> > The EPC position paper is signed by Peter Sutherland
(Chairman of The EPC Advisory Board), Karel Van Miert
(EPC Advisory Board member), Stanley Crossick (EPC
Chairman), Hywel Ceri Jones (Chairman of The EPC Executive
> Board), Max Kohnstamm (EPC Director) and John Palmer (EPC
Director).
> > The full text of the position paper can be found on The
EPC's web-site www.TheEPC.be <http://www.TheEPC.be>
For further information, please contact Giovanni Grevi
at [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Forwarded by
----------------------
Patrick Overy
EDC Librarian
University of Exeter
Law Library
Amory Building
Rennes Drive
EXETER
EX4 4RJ
tel. (01392) 263356 fax.no. (01392)263196
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
internet http://www.ex.ac.uk/~pcovery/lib/eurostudies.html
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