Contribution by Mr Elmar Brok, Mr Karel De Gucht, Mr Lamberto Dini, Mr Elio Di Rupo, Mr Andrew Duff, Mr Olivier Duhamel, Mr Caspar Einem, Mr Ben Fayot, Mr Paul Helminger, Mrs Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann, Mr Peeter Kreitzberg, Mr Alain Lamassoure, Mrs Johanna Maij-Weggen, Mr Luis Marinho, Dr Jurgen Meyer, Mr Louis Michel, Mr Jozef Oleksy, Mrs Anne Van Lancker, Mr Johannes Voggenhuber, and Mr Josef Zieleniec, Members of the Convention; and by Mrs Pervenche Beres, Mrs Maria Berger, Mr Carlos Carnero Gonzalez, Mr John Cushnahan, Mr Neil MacCormick, Lord Maclennan, Mrs Eleana Paciotti, Mr Nicolas Schmit, Mr Adrian Severin, Mr Istvan Szent-Ivanyi, and Mr Wim Van Eekelen, Alternate Members of the Convention.

KEY ELEMENTS OF INSTITUTIONAL REFORM

Heartened by the work of the Convention so far, the signatories to this contribution have reached broad and firm agreement on the following proposals for institutional reform.
The list is not exhaustive and is in summary form, yet it comprises an indispensable reform package if the enlarged Union is to be more simple, efficient, effective, transparent and, above all, democratic.

The Council

1. Qualified majority voting (QMV) must be the norm. All legislative matters decided by qualified majority voting in the Council must be co-decided by the European Parliament according to a procedure based on the existing Article 251 TEC.

2. When acting in its legislative capacity the Council must be open to the press and public. It will publish its proceedings.

3. QMV should be determined as a majority of member states representing a majority of the population of the Union.

4. In certain cases specified in the Constitution the Council should act by an enhanced or ‘super QMV’ — for example, to be determined by three-quarters of member states representing two-thirds of the population. These specific cases would include (i) any institutional or ‘organic’ law; (ii) the use of Article 308 TEC (or its equivalent); and maybe (iii) ‘own resources’ decisions; and (iv) certain measures on tax harmonisation.

5. The Council acts in an executive capacity in order (i) to coordinate national macro-economic policies; (ii) to conduct the Union’s security and defence policy; and (iii) to concert national policies in the field of justice and interior affairs.

The Commission

6. While member states are responsible for the execution of EU policy at national level, it is the European Commission that has this responsibility at the level of the Union and for ensuring the overall faithful application of EU law.

To read the document see: http://register.consilium.eu.int/pdf/en/03/cv00/cv00487en03.pdf.