Call to name and shame absent ministers

Date: 19/04/01

Foreign ministers should meet every week in Brussels and those who do not attend should be named and shamed, according to MEPs seeking a radical overhaul of the Union's most powerful law-making body.

They say the decision-taking process in the Council of Ministers has become ineffective, poorly coordinated and unfocused.

Monthly meetings of foreign ministers at the general affairs council should be replaced by a two-day meeting every week, argues Luxembourg MEP and former deputy prime minister Jacques Poos, in a draft paper on council reform.

"Over the years the general affairs council has fallen victim to the disinterest of the main players, the number of participants and its method of deliberations," says Poos, the Parliament's rapporteur on the subject."It is unacceptable that European affairs should be dealt with by a council which meets once a month, in which some ministers responsible turn up for just a few hours, convene press conferences - when their colleagues are still deliberating - and go back to their capitals delegating their authority to their permanent representatives." Poos says the number of different council ministerial groups should be cut from the current 20 to just eight to give foreign affairs ministers a more comprehensive overview of the work of the Union.

He also suggests that the numbers attending council meetings should be restricted to two per member state."It is incomprehensible that the institution supposed to be at the centre of power in the community should continue to deliberate in a room in which 85 people are sitting round a table," he says.

The socialist MEP also argues for action to make sure that ministers actually show up. "Contrary to what happens at present, deliberations should be suspended, and the name of the absent ministers made public if the quorum established by the rules of procedure is not attained," he says.

Fellow MEPs say that as a former foreign minister himself, Poos' ideas are likely to be met with enthusiasm within the assembly. They will receive a more mixed reaction though from member states, where the power to change the way the Union works ultimately lies.

Some EU nations are keen to push the idea of change in the way ministers meet, particularly in preparation for an enlargement of up to 27 members. In February, French European Affairs Minister Pierre Moscovici called for Europe ministers to be permanently based in Brussels so they can more directly steer EU policy.

Speaking to MEPs earlier this month German President Johannes Rau also called for an overhaul of the Council of Ministers, saying it and the assembly of Euro MPs should become two chambers of a super European Parliament.

Other member states such as the UK and Sweden are more sceptical of the need for change.

Foreign ministers should meet every week in Brussels and those who do not attend should be named and shamed, according to MEPs seeking a radical overhaul of the Union's most powerful law-making body.