The Intergovernmental Conference, which began in Rome on 4 October, has met five times, twice at the level of Heads of State and of Government and thrice at the level of Foreign Ministers. In the current state of play, the view favourable to the maintenance of the draft Constitution presented by the Convention chaired by Giscard d’Estaing seems to prevail. In actual fact, the Italian Presidency has chosen to leave to the last the thornier questions on which a diplomatic battle is certain: namely, the composition of the Commission (restricted Commission contra the principle “one State, one Commissioner”) and the calculation of the majority vote in Council. While waiting to debate the issues of the Commission and the majority voting system in the days ahead, the Italian Presidency has confirmed the presentation of a draft final text of the Constitution by the end of November and in any case prior to the “conclave” in Naples on 28/29 November. The following positions, among others, are on the negotiating table. Chairmanship of the Councils: general consensus has been reached on the elimination of the proposal to create a legislative Council, which would flank the European Council, and approve all the laws together with the European Parliament. The idea is supported only by the European Parliament, Germany and Portugal, while at least eight countries have requested its cancellation from the draft Constitution and others have urged that it be radically revised. There is also wide consensus on the proposal to assign the foreign affairs Council to the chairmanship of the EU Foreign Minister and wide opposition to the general affairs Council being chaired by the President of the European Council. Greece has proposed that the chairmanship of sectorial Councils should be for a period of 12 months (the Italian proposal was for 18) and be assigned to a group of three countries. Referendum: the UK has also declared its opposition to a referendum for the ratification of the European Constitution by the people. Ecofin: somewhat to people’s surprise, the Council of Ministers of the Economy and Finance presented a proposal to the IGC, asking that the power of the European Parliament be sharply reduced in terms of budgetary approval and that the communication by which the Commission warns the Council of the risk of any member state breaking the Stability Pact be changed from a “proposal” to a “recommendation”. Christian values: seven countries have officially asked that an explicit reference to Christianity be introduced in the Preamble: they are Italy, Poland, Spain, Ireland, Czech Republic, Latvia and Malta. In spite of the fact that the “no” front is still in the majority and still compact, only one country, Belgium, has expressly declared its opposition to any such reference.
