New treaty leaves power in hands of governments

Date: 12/06/1997

By Rory Watson

THE new Treaty of Amsterdam is set to enshrine key areas of EU policy in governmental hands and disappoint supporters of the European Commission anxious to see its authority enhanced as the Union enters the largely uncharted waters of enlargement.

The draft treaty, due to be agreed by EU leaders at next week's summit, reflects a more pragmatic approach towards the Union's development following the expansion of the powers of EU institutions over the past decade. As such, it will be a watershed in the Union's evolution.

Although Commission officials are reluctant to admit publicly that they are disappointed with the text which has emerged from nearly two years of negotiations at the Intergovernmental Conference, President Jacques Santer hinted yesterday (11 June) that they were not entirely satisfied with the likely outcome.

“I would have liked it to have been more adventurous in one or two areas,” he admitted to MEPs.

The draft treaty on the table next week would, for the first time in 40 years, dilute the Commission's right to be the sole initiator of draft EU legislation - albeit for a limited period and only in the clearly defined area of justice and home affairs.

The Commission's authority to negotiate international trade agreements would also be more tightly controlled by member states. In exchange for extending the institution's responsibilities into the new areas of services and intellectual property, governments will insist that the Commission is even more accountable to them in future.

Member states are also insisting that all major aspects of the EU's common foreign and security policy should remain firmly in their hands. In addition, they will retain tight control over the operation of the free-movement Schengen Convention.

Even before the treaty has been signed, MEPs are already accusing the Union of lacking ambition, even though it is certain to extend the legislative powers the European Parliament shares with EU governments into a number of new areas.

“It is not more European, it is less European. It is not more democratic, it is less democratic. There is no attempt to reach a balance of power in the new treaty,” complained German MEP and leader of the Parliament's Green Group Claudia Roth.

“There is an increasing tendency among member states to move the Union in a more intergovernmental direction at the expense of the Commission and European Parliament, particularly on foreign policy and issues of justice and home affairs,” said former Dutch European Affairs Minister and Socialist MEP Piet Dankert, who helped negotiate the Maastricht Treaty.

But the new treaty will also confirm the failure of some of the more ambitious attacks launched against the Commission over the many months of negotiations. France has given up its bid to cut the number of Commissioners in half. German efforts to transfer the institution's powers over competition policy to an independent cartel office and to make it easier for member states to change draft legislation tabled by the Commission have also fallen by the wayside.

Agreement on an updated treaty is now clearly in sight, but Union leaders are expected to fail to meet one of their key initial goals when they leave Amsterdam next week. The new text is likely to be even more complex than its Maastricht predecessor, dashing hopes that the treaty could be simplified to make it more accessible to the public.

“One of the most disturbing aspects of the negotiations is that all member states are so distrustful of each other and of the institutions that they are trying to tie things down in detailed conditions. As a result, the text could be less readable than the present version,” said one negotiator.