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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 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%