Europese Commissie verdedigt stemverhoudingen in ontwerp-Grondwet (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - The European Commission on Wednesday (8 October) entered the bitter debate about whether the Convention that drew up the draft Constitution has exceeded its mandate by opening the terms of the Nice Treaty.

"Everyone knew in Laeken [where it was agreed to set up the Convention] that it was going to be an in-depth exercise", said a Commission spokesman.

He went on to say that in the Convention mandate "there was a reference to simplification" and that the decision-making process in the new Draft, which completely revises Nice Treaty's voting system, is "much easier".

The Commission's comments come after a spat between the draft's architect, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Spain's José Mariá Aznar who is staunchly opposed to changing the current voting system.

The Nice Treaty, under which the EU now operates, is heavily weighted in Spain's favour: it has 27 votes in the Council of Ministers while Germany with a far greater population has 29.

Mr Giscard told French radio, France Inter, on Tuesday that "one of the objectives of the Convention was to annul the advantages Spain obtained at Nice".

Spain reacted angrily to this. Speaking in Madrid, Mr Aznar sarcastically thanked Mr Giscard for his comments, according to Spanish media reports.

The Laeken declaration which laid out the terms of the Convention on the Future of Europe does not make any explicit mention of revising the Nice Treaty voting system.

However, the vast majority of member states agree that the Nice Treaty, which was finalised in 2000 after days of ill-tempered and secretive negotiations, is an unsatisfactory document with opaque and complicated voting rules.

The new Constitution proposes that decisions be reached when at least half the member states representing at least 60% of the population agree.