Ahern stalks compromise on EU constitution

Published: 15 May 2004 y., Saturday
A constitution for the EU must be signed by all the 25 members - according to Bertie Ahern, prime minister of the EU's current presiding nation Ireland. He is consulting all the capitals. After Lisbon he was in Madrid. He has also suggested not reducing the size of the European Commission for the moment. "Our proposal is that we should stick with one commissioner per member state for the foreseeable future, and as the council gets larger we should then move to a smaller commission based on equal rotation." In this case each EU country would retain one member until 2014. Diplomats say the main point of contention in the constitutional negotiations might be resolved by raising the proportions of member states and population needed to take most decisions - from 50/60% to 55/65%. The new Spanish socialist prime minister Rodriguez Zapatero said his government wanted a constitutional accord and had confidence in the Irish presidency. 'We will find a solution within the boundaries of what you've been hearing recently.' EU foreign ministers resume the negotiations on Monday. EU leaders have agreed to try to conclude them at a summit on June 17-18.
Šaltinis: EuroNews
Copying, publishing, announcing any information from the News.lt portal without written permission of News.lt editorial office is prohibited.

Facebook Comments

New comment


Captcha

Associated articles

The most popular articles

KAZAKH PROSECUTOR WANTS CHARGES AGAINST ZHIRINOVSKII

Kazakh Prosecutor-General Rashid Tusupbekov has asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Ustinov to consider charges against Russian State Duma Deputy Vladimir Zhirinovskii for disparaging comments more »

Praise for Poland

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has again expressed concern about Russia's slow pace of democratic reform, and promised that Washington would help key ally Poland modernise its army more »

No Orange Revolution for Kazakhstan

Ukraine's democratic Orange Revolution won't be repeated in Kazakhstan, a leading expert said Friday. more »

GEORGIAN PRESIDENT ASSUMES PRIME MINISTER'S DUTIES

Mikheil Saakashvili announced in Tbilisi that he will head the Georgian government temporarily following the sudden death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania more »

Ukraine Parliament Wants Former President Kuchma Arrested

Ukraine’s upper chamber of parliament has asked the country’s prosecutor general to launch a criminal case against former President Leonid Kuchma for his involvement in the kidnapping and murder of a journalist more »

Ukraine sold missiles to Iran, China

A senior Ukrainian legislator alleges the country sold nuclear-capable cruise missiles to Iran and China in violation of international non-proliferation treaties more »

Slovenia ratifies EU constitution

Slovenia's parliament has ratified the European Union constitution by an overwhelming majority. more »

EU warns it will delay talks with Croatia

The European Union will reportedly delay accession talks with Croatia, if that nation does not increase cooperation with The Hague's criminal tribunal more »

Slovenia FM in Moscow to discuss OSCE reform problems

Dimitrij Rupel, current President of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), who arrived in Moscow for a working visit on Monday, is to discuss OSCE reform problems here on Tuesday more »

Kyrgyz Opposition Under Pressure

Kyrgyzstan’s opposition movement is accusing the authorities of “persecution and provocation” in the run up to the parliamentary elections on February 27 more »