Friday, Dec 12, 2003
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By Batuk Gathani
A meeting of E.U. Foreign Ministers here was inconclusive, but they struck tentative deals on issues such as future spending, pan-European defence and foreign policy strategies. The heads of Government will meet here on Friday to seek consensus on the major issues related to the functioning of the expanding E.U., which will have 450 million citizens and some 25 member-states by 2004, with the world's second highest purchasing power after the U.S. The E.U's two-year effort to draft a constitution will enter its final phase this week when the leaders seek to clinch agreements on European unity, cultural and political diversity, heritage, multi-party democracy based on governance by rule of law and the ideals of free market economy. A key issue is to finalise the draft of the semi-federal constitution. The so-called "numbers game'' related to the voting rules have yet to be finalised. The four largest founding members of the E.U. — Germany with a population of 82 million, France 60 million, Britain 58 million and Italy 57 million — have 29 votes each compared with 27 votes for Spain and Poland, each of which has less than 40 million population. Observers point out that the final deal on the constitution may determine whether the E.U. can develop into a political and economic superpower or remain mired in bickering and controversies. It remains to be seen what major changes the E.U. heads of Government will propose to overhaul the decision-making process. Under a system that is likely to be discussed, major decisions could be based on "weighted votes'' under which each of the big four member countries would get 10 votes while smaller countries would get two to eight votes. It was evident at the Foreign Ministers' meeting that the member states were determined to preserve their national identity within the framework of the pan-European institutions.
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