The head of the convention that took a year and a half to draft a constitution for an enlarged European Union has again warned leaders not to try to re-write it. Former French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing was brief: "We'd rather do without a constitution than have a bad one," he said.

This won backing from national and European parliamentarians, meeting in Brussels to review what is happening with the charter they played a large part in drafting.

It is high stakes poker. Notably, there is a voting system which gives Spain and Poland power disproportionate to their population. The four big EU states want this changed.

The draft constitution says: replace the Council of Ministers' multiple vote system to let 50 percent of member states representing 60 percent of the population be enough to adopt a decision. Alternatives are being considered.

Then there's haggling over the size of the EU's executive body. Many governments want one commissioner per member state. In that case big states would want two each. So much for arguments to cap the Commission at 15.

The final aim is to reform the power balance between the Council, the Commission and the Parliament.

On the customary summit preparation tour, Silvio Berlusconi, Italian Premier and President-in-Office of the Council, will visit Berlin on Sunday. Chancellor Schroeder's in Paris on Tuesday. On Friday, all the EU leaders will meet in Brussels, aiming to finalise the new constitution.

Source: Euro News at:
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