European Parliament President Mr Pat Cox was quoted today as rejecting a British proposal for the European Union's council of member states to elect a president to serve a five-year term rather than rotating twice a year.
"If we get a formula that means more Europe behind closed doors then I would say that the EU parliament would definitely be against that," Mr Cox told Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitungdaily in an interview released ahead of publication tomorrow.
British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair, backed by current European Union president Spain and by France, wants a senior statesman to be elected by member states as president of the European Council - the body that groups the 15-nation bloc's heads of government.
Spanish Prime Minister Mr Jose Maria Aznar, whose country is nearing the end of a six-month stint at the helm of the EU, suggested that the president should serve for a longer term of either two-and-a-half or five years.
Mr Cox echoed fears of smaller states that such a president would inevitably be drawn from the ranks of bigger European Union members states and would also eclipse the president of the European Commission, the EU's Brussels-based executive.
He said the idea smacked of strengthening the Council at the expense of the European Parliament and the Commission.
"We need a balanced system of controls and counter-controls. That should not allow any concentration of power in just one direction," he said.
He also rejected a suggestion by Mr Aznar that such a president could also dissolve the European parliament at the behest of the Commission.