Berlin and Paris Get European Motor Back on Track

An informal meeting between French President Chirac and German Chancellor Schröder in Paris on Tuesday evening ended with an important agreement on how the European Union should be run in future.

Both Schröder and Chirac said the the far-sweeping deal on this and other points showed that the French-German motor was still the driving force behind the EU.

The two leaders agreed to split the difference between their competing visions of the EU's future and push for expanded powers for heads of both the EU Commission and the European Council.

This could exert a decisive influence on the reform commission headed by former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing, which is trying to put together a new EU constitution in preparation for the accession of 10 new members in 2004 .

The Franco-German proposal would in effect create a “dual monarchy,” with a commission president elected by the European Parliament and a Council president elected for a set term by the leaders of the member states.

Both the British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Germany’s Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer have been tipped as possible candidates for the presidency of the Council. It currently rotates among the 15 members, with each member state taking it in turns to occupy the post for a six month period.

Agreement has something for everyone

Although neither leader went into detail about how a dual executive would work, the compromise addresses both Germany's wish for stronger EU institutions and the French, British and Spanish insistence that the final say on any key decision must remain with the national governments.

Although the final result is perhaps not as federalist as Germany had wanted, Schröder said he was satisfied with it. "This not only strengthens the Commission,” he said after the meeting, ”but also the European Parliament, which was also important for us." Critics, however, are already saying the two-pronged system will merely complicate things even more.

The two leaders, who were accompanied by their foreign ministers, are expected to make a full statement on the agreement on January 22 - the 40th anniversary of the Elysee Treaty that sealed the two countries' friendship after World War Two. Media reports say they will also announce new cooperation initiatives in areas such as policing, education and labor.

No discussion of Iraq attack options

The other important item on Tuesday evening’s informal agenda was Iraq. Although Chirac said he and Schröder had established that their views were the same, he also said that they had not discussed the issue of what to do if the United States decides to use military force. However, the German Chancellor again stressed that Germany would not participate in any military action and called for more support for the UN’s chief weapons inspector Hans Blix. Blix's teams are searching Iraq for evidence that Saddam Hussein’s regime possesses weapons of mass destruction.

"Mr. Blix said today that inspections would have to continue past the 27th of January,” he said. “Our policy will be to help him gain the time, which he is justified in demanding." But, in spite of the apparent agreement between Paris and Berlin, German officials are reported to be pushing France to use its UN veto to block American moves to disarm Iraq by force.