The Councilists are Coming — What Herb Thinks

If you’ve been following my commentaries, you know I believe there is power struggle going on for control of the new, super European Union. This struggle is mainly between the people who want the Commission to be the seat of power, and certain governments who want Council to be the seat of power.

The Convention on the Future of Europe was established to come up with some kind of compromise that both side could agree upon before the next Inter-governmental Conference in 2004. Now Valéry Giscard dEstaing, the Convention’s president, has come up with a what he thinks is the answer tot he dispute – a constitutional treaty that is, in reality, a blueprint for a federal European superstate.

At first glance it would appear Giscard has sided with those, such as Romano Prodi, who wish to make the seat of power in the new EU the Commission. This is because, contrary to the wishes of certain governments within the Council who only want a loose democracy of independant states, Giscard’s constitution is clearly a blueprint for a strongly united federal superstate. This is something Prodi and the Commission have been calling for all along.

Yet, when you look a little deeper, you find that Giscard’s blueprint has also left the door open for a president to be elected within the Council. And, it is calling for stengthing the office of High Representative now occupied by Javier Solana.

In other words, Giscard’s blueprint is a compromise that will set these two competeing powers, the Commission and the Council, on an equal basis in a new battle field

So, what are the pro-Commission people doing to bring this suspected hidden agenda to light. They have delivered a paper to Convention president, Valéry Giscard dEstaing, demanding that a debate be opened between the two visions for Europe — the Commission’s and the Council’s — at the beginning of the Convention and not at the end. You see, by calling for an early debate, they knew any secret agenda within the Convention would be exposed.

Now it looks like their strategy has worked. It’s being reported by the EUobserver that Convention president Giscard has warned that unless the states get what they want in the Convention, the dream for a new Super Europe will be blocked.

Although Giscard’s word’s of warning were somewhat veiled in euro-spin, their meaning were clear. So clear, in fact, at the end of the report the writer called Giscard a “councilist.”

So the secret agenda in the Convention on EU future has been exposed. Either the heads of state in the Council will get their way in the new EU, or the new EU will never happen.

Whether we like it or not, the councilists are coming.

— Herb Peters
7/13/02