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From The Times
September 17, 2003

Prodi to reject EU draft

From Rory Watson in Brussels
ROMANO PRODI will start to unpick Europe’s draft constitution today when he will reject its blueprint for the European Commission and urge more curbs on national vetoes.

The President of the Commission and his colleagues will approve a policy document setting out their demands for the intergovernmental conference negotiations that aim to finalise the European Union’s first constitution by Christmas.

He will reject pressure from Germany, Italy and France for the text drawn up by the convention of the former French president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, this summer to be accepted virtually unamended.

Heading his list of objections is the composition of future Commissions. In an attempt to streamline the institution in a Union with 25 members, the convention had proposed creating two categories of commissioners. The first 15 would have full voting and decision-making rights; those left would be junior.

“This would destroy the collegiality of the Commission. And what would the ten second-division members do except spy for their national administrations?” one Brussels official said.

Signor Prodi will argue that each country should have a fully fledged commissioner, a view shared by almost every small EU state.

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