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Politics : War -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (10022)	12/17/2001 9:09:29 AM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23908

Bickering brings EU summit to near-farcical end By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in Brussels (Filed: 17/12/2001) THE summit of European Union leaders in Belgium ended in near farce at the weekend after bickering states blocked agreement on 12 new agencies and an ageing French former president was chosen to bring Europe closer to young citizens. Meeting behind razor wire at the Belgian royal palace of Laeken, the 15 leaders settled reluctantly on Valery Giscard d'Estaing for the task of overhauling Europe's institutions and making the system more open. All other candidacies fizzled out. The 15 were vehemently at odds over the siting of the EU's new food safety agency, as well as the maritime and aviation agencies and a host of other bodies, chiefly because of objections by the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who demanded extra trophies for Rome. He also shocked colleagues over dinner by launching into a tirade against the European arrest warrant, which he predicted would lead to Europe's political elite being taken away in handcuffs to face deranged magistrates with a political agenda. The Belgian government decided to cut short the unseemly haggling and leave the matter to a future summit. M Giscard, 75, known for his brilliance, autocratic style, and didactic Europhile views, will preside over a year-long "Convention" that will explore a hotchpotch of ideas, including a possible European constitution and an elected president, paving the way for yet another treaty in 2004 to cope with an enlarged union of 30 or more states. EU leaders passed over the embarrassing fact that last year's Nice treaty has still not been ratified, and may never be, after having been rejected by the Irish people in June in the only country to put the matter to a popular vote. But they agreed to a high-minded "Laeken Declaration" recognising that the EU had lost its way and needed to stay out of issues that are better left to member states. "What [citizens] expect is more results, not a European superstate of European institutions inveigling their way into every nook and cranny of life," it said. The choice of M Giscard was greeted with groans at the summit, where it was seen as a Franco-German stitch-up reminiscent of the worst practices of the 1970s. The Portuguese foreign minister, Jaime Gama, openly called him "a man of the European past, not a personality for the future of Europe". EU diplomats said the move was a cynical ploy by President Chirac to silence a major critic before next year's elections. M Giscard has attacked M Chirac for corruption and hinted that he is unfit for office. The deal goes some way to discrediting the EU Convention before it has even begun, and partly explains why Tony Blair was willing to acquiesce in a decision that might seem at first to have been a blow to British interests. The Government has fought tooth and nail to ensure that any conclusions will not be binding, and is now satisfied that the body has been "defanged". David Miliband, Labour MP for South Shields, who will be Tony Blair's envoy to the forum, said the Laeken process was much ado about nothing. "The introduction of euro notes and coins will probably have much more effect over the next few months than any words that politicians can come up with," he said. The 100-strong Convention, drawn from EU governments, national parliaments, the European Parliament and Commission, and EU applicant states, is expected to produce two sets of blueprints. The first will set out designs for a fully fledged federal Europe, with power vested in a strong European Commission, backed by Germany and most of the smaller states, who see the commission as their main defence against bullying by a "directoire" of the big powers. It will almost certainly run into the brick wall of Britain, Spain, and, in its own way, France, all of which can be expected to deploy their veto to protect sovereignty. The fall-back option will be something closer to a Europe of nation states, with key decisions made by governments meeting in the Council of Ministers. In other words, the current system would continue much as before, though the EU is now developing its own military staff, intelligence service and judicial bodies, in moves that go far beyond the single market of the 1980s. portal.telegraph.co.uk