9 May 2001, 17:21 Fabius rejects Schroeder's plan to give EU govts role of 2nd chamber
PARIS (AFX) - Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said he is reluctant
to give the governments of the EU the role of a second chamber of
parliament, as outlined in the German Social Democrat party's plan to
reform the institutions of the EU.
In an interview with Europe 1 radio, Fabius said however that he
agrees with some key aspects of Schroeder's draft statement: the need
to go further in the EU integration as well as the necessity to give a
greater role to the European parliament, in particular enhanced
budgetary powers.
Last week, Schroeder advocated the restructuring of the EU
institutions to create a central EU government with a two-chamber
parliament and expanded powers, one of them being the existing council
of EU ministers.
Regarding the possible re-nationalisation of the common agriculture
policy as well as the structural aid policy, Fabius said he sees them
as a necessary tool that enables greater economic convergence between
the EU countries.
Fabius also noted that the German plan omits the possibility of
resorting to re-enforced co-operations to achieve more rapidly EU
goals. Fabius said that the EU enlargement is compatible with further
EU integration only if some member states -- such as France, Germany
and the euro zone countries -- are given the possibility to integrate
further and more rapidly than the rest of the member states.
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