Barroso lays down IGC gauntlet

STRASBOURG: National governments should not try to renegotiate the content of the reform treaty and renege on agreements already made, José Manuel Barroso has warned.

The European commission president said that he considered it “inconceivable” that any member state would use the upcoming intergovernmental conference (IGC) to reopen old wounds and try to win more concessions.

“An agreement is an agreement,” he said. “And the agreement at the European council in June was a good one for the EU.”

“What we hope to see during the IGC is not political gestures but serious political discussions about the future of Europe.”

The European commission on Tuesday endorsed the agreed remit of the IGC, thrashed out by national governments at the Brussels summit last month.

Barroso said that member states should “avoid unpicking the seams of the agreement, otherwise they risk unravelling everything”.

The commission president conceded that governments had the legal right to reopen any negotiating chapter during the IGC, but added that he expected them all to act in “good faith” and stick to the agreement already agreed unanimously.

 Barroso also went to great pains to stress the novelty of the text that is expected to emerge from the IGC.

“What is the point in comparing the reform treaty with the draft constitution? We believe the new text is better than the old one, so why bother comparing the two?”

The former academic also waxed lyrical on the question of what the EU would become once the new treaty is in place, planned for 2009.

“We should not have existential doubts about the EU’s future – it is what it has always been.”

“It is the world’s first non-imperial empire, with 27 member states that have agreed to pool their sovereignty and work together.”

“Any fears that countries will lose their sovereignty to an EU “super state” are unfounded – but does anyone really think that anyway?”

Parliament will give its go-ahead to the IGC on Thursday following the debate and vote on the report by MEP Jo Leinen.

They will also choose three MEPs to represent parliament at the IGC.

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