EU: European Union Foreign Ministers have given broad approval to an initiative by Finance Ministers to change elements of the EU's draft constitutional treaty despite criticism from the European Commission.
The Finance Ministers want to prevent the Commission and the European Parliament from gaining new powers over the EU's economic policy, and favour including in the treaty a commitment to fight inflation.
Italy's Foreign Minister, Mr Franco Frattini, admitted yesterday that the Finance Ministers, who drew up the plan in secret during a meeting in Italy last month, had bruised some feelings with the initiative. But he said that there was a consensus in favour of many of the ideas contained in the proposal.
The Commission's chief spokesman, Mr Reijo Kemppinnen, reacted angrily to the Finance Ministers' initiative, accusing them of behaving like a lobby for their sectoral interests.
"What we have heard coming from the Finance Ministers, we do not agree with at all. When it comes to the more general question of one formation or another of the Council choosing to act as a pressure group in the middle of the Intergovernmental Conference, we don't believe that is something that is desirable," he said.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, said Ireland supported most of the proposals, but he stressed that the treaty negotiations were being conducted between national governments rather than groups of ministers.
Yesterday's meeting focused on non-institutional issues in the treaty of concern to the 15 member-states and the 10 countries that will join the EU next May.
The Italian presidency hopes to make a detailed proposal for changes to the draft treaty in advance of a "conclave" of Foreign Ministers in Naples at the end of November.
Mr Cowen said the timetable was ambitious, but it was important for the Inter-Governmental Conference to examine closely all the proposals approved by the Convention on the Future of Europe.
"Whilst one respects the political views that might have emerged based on those who constituted the Convention, it is a matter for member-states to decide.
"That's a point that's important in terms of making sure that we address the issue of using this as a good basis for our work, but at the same token not abdicating our responsibilities as member-state governments to test rigorously those powers which people may wish to confer into the common institutions."
Although yesterday's meeting was dominated by issues such as the extension of qualified majority voting, there were signs of movement in the debate over the future composition of the Commission. Germany's Foreign Minister, Mr Joschka Fischer, who favours a slimmed down Commission, acknowledged that smaller states had made a powerful case in favour of retaining the right of each country to nominate a commissioner.