As the EU prepares
to become a club of 30-plus countries, the immense task of reforming its institutions
- so that they can work effectivelyand gain some democratic credibility - will
be unending. There are already signs of a new institutional model emerging,
with the governments - and in particular the prime ministers who sit in the
European Council - in control. This is a welcome development, since heads of
government have some legitimacy in the eyes of electorates, but the model will
need much refinement in future rounds of reform.
The European Council should become the EU's strategic authority, setting an
agenda for the various councils of ministers and the Commission to follow. The
old antagonism between supranational and inter-governmental institutions should
become a thing of the past: a joined-up European Administration should include
the Commission, the Council Secretariat and a new Diplomatic Service. There
should be frequent exchanges of personnel between them and national administrations.
A reformed General Affairs Council, consisting of senior politicians appointed
by prime ministers, and based part of the time in Brussels, should co-ordinate
the work of the other councils. The rotating presidency should be abolished,
to ensure continuity in policy-making and in external representation. A single
person should combine the foreign policy jobs currently held by Chris Patten
and Javier Solana, speaking for the EU to the outside world and chairing meetings
of the foreign ministers. A "Mr Euroland" should chair the meetings
of Euroland finance ministers and represent the euro-zone in international financial
negotiations. In each of the other councils, the ministers should elect one
of their peers as the chair, for a two-year period.
Much needs to be done to enhance the Union's legitimacy. Council meetings should
be televised. A new Standing Council on Subsidarity should propose, every year,
that a list of outmoded laws, programmes and budget lines be scrapped; the European
Council could accept or reject these proposals. It is crucial to create links
between national political systems and what happens in Brussels. Thus half the
MEPs should be sacked, to be replaced by members of national parliaments, with
lighter responsibilities than the full-time MEPs. As for the Commission, it
will lack the authority to perform its job of managing the single market and
the enlargement negotiations unless it gains an electoral mandate. So each EU
country should directly elect one commissioner for a non-renewable term. The
European Council should then choose one of them as president. Sounds unlikely?
Maybe. But if the EU wants to become a truly continental Union it must adapt
- or suffer a lingering death.
These
proposals, and many others, are developed at length in "EU 2010: an optimistic
vision of the future", recently published by the CER.
