EU/ GERMANY: The Government has played down reports of a breakthrough in talks on the EU's proposed constitutional treaty, insisting that the Irish presidency has tabled no formal proposals.
A number of European newspapers reported yesterday that Germany could accept a change in the draft treaty's proposal to introduce a voting system in the Council of Ministers based on population size rather than weighted votes. The draft treaty proposes that a qualified majority should be defined as a majority of member states representing at least 60 per cent of the EU's population.
The European Affairs spokesman of the Greens, Germany's junior coalition partner, told the Financial Times that Berlin could accept a double majority defined as 55 per cent of member states representing 55 per cent of the EU's population.
An Irish presidency spokesman said that the 55 per cent proposal was among a number of options that had been discussed among officials.
"While we are exploring all options, we have tabled no formal proposals," the spokesman said.
German officials said the 55 per cent proposal did not represent official policy in Berlin but that any compromise will concern the form a double majority takes and the time of its introduction.
"It has always been clear that any compromise is going to focus on the two thresholds and a rendezvous mechanism. We have always signalled that if certain principles are respected, particularly the principle of the double majority itself, we are prepared to compromise. There is certainly a willingness to negotiate on the threshold," one official said.
The voting issue is the most stubborn obstacle in the way of agreement on the constitutional treaty, with Germany and France favouring a double majority while Spain and Poland want to retain the system of weighted votes agreed at Nice.
French officials said yesterday that Paris could not accept a reduction of the population threshold to 55 per cent.
A 55 per cent population threshold would ensure that the combination of Germany, France and Britain, the EU's biggest countries, could not block any measure without the support of others.
Poland reacted cautiously to the proposed German compromise. Sources close to Prime Minister Mr Leszek Miller said Berlin was "testing" the waters but said Warsaw would not follow into a public debate.
"Frankly speaking, the error committed during the Italian presidency was to talk via the media on different details, whereas the Irish approach seems to me very proper: bilateral talks and then the summit to present an opinion on the reality of reaching a compromise," said Prof Tadeusz Iwinski, an adviser to Mr Miller.
The Polish government has sent proposals to Dublin highlighting its room for manoeuvre. Warsaw has suggested waiting until November, six months after EU enlargement, to see how the Nice voting rules work in practice before discussing a compromise voting arrangement.
German Chancellor Mr Gerhard Schröder said Berlin was "unshakable" on the double majority principle but was "open to suggestions from the presidency to build on this principle and bring movement to this discussion". He added: "We see certain prospects of achieving that under the Irish presidency."
The Taoiseach is due to report to EU leaders later this month on the progress of his talks. He must decide before then if he should recommend that formal negotiations in an Intergovernmental Council be reconvened next month. The Taoiseach will meet French President Mr Jacques Chirac in Paris on March 22nd three days before the EU summit. Serious talks with Madrid are expected to resume next week,after Sunday's general election in Spain. An Irish presidency spokesman said yesterday that, although signs of German flexibility were welcome, it was still too soon to predict the nature of the Taoiseach's recommendation to the summit.
