Igc-fact file" "
On Wednesday 17 September the European Commission adopted an opinion on the draft European Constitution that will be discussed by the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) due to open in Rome on 4 October. While the EU Executive considers the draft prepared by the Convention an “excellent point of departure”, it also underlines the need for the IGC to “make some improvements to the text”. The improvements in questions, and the positions of the governments, are listed below. Further restricting the field of application of unanimity. The Executive considers that the maintenance of the unanimous vote in sectors such as the campaign against fraud and tax evasion, bioterrorism and discrimination, would lead to legislative paralysis. It proposes instead an extension of the qualified majority vote. Creating an instrument of economic governance. The consolidation of the Euro and the provisions of the Stability Pact impose, in the view of the Commission, a more efficient coordination of EU economic policy. Adopting the principle “one State, one Commissioner”. The Commission opposes a two-tier College composed of Commissioners with full voting rights and Commissioners without the right to vote, as conceived by Giscard d’Estaing. The Commission’s proposal is that the Commissioners, one for each member state, would all have the right to vote and be organised in thematic groups according to sector of competence under the coordination of the President, who would ensure their coherence of action. Revising the articles on the procedures for constitutional reform. The document expresses the Commission’s concern that “the unaninmous agreement of all governments and subsequent ratification in all member states” would in practice make any amendment of the Constitution impossible.
