In the early hours on 23 June, EU leaders managed overcome the institutional impasse and agree on the outlines of a new EU "Reform Treaty" put forward by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to replace the EU Constitution.
Heads of state and governments signed up to a detailed mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to start work before the end of July to hammer out the details of a new "Reform Treaty" to be adopted at the end of the year. Ratification would come in time for the 2009 European elections.
The deal was struck after the German Presidency convinced Poland to drop its opposition to a proposed double majority voting system in the Council. Faced with another rejection by Polish President Lech Kaczynski, Angela Merkel threatened to convene the IGC without its reluctant Eastern neighbour. "Poland would then have the chance to join the European consensus at the governmental conference in autumn," explained German government spokesman Ulrich Wilhelm.
In return, an extension of the current system was negotiated, which gives Poland and Spain a high number of votes compared to the biggest member states.
The double majority voting system, requiring the assent of 55% of member states and 65% of the EU population and thus favouring large member states, will be applied from 2014, after the EU agrees on its long-term budget planning for the period 2014-2020. The new voting system will be applied during a transition period between 2014 and 2017, but a member state can still ask for the old voting system to be used if it wishes to. Moreover, a complex special clause makes it easier to build a blocking minority during that time.
Poland also managed to secure an energy solidarity clause, soothing its concerns over tense relations with Russia.
In another important concession, the UK was granted an exemption from a legally-binding Charter of Fundamental Rights and was able to rebrand the disputed "EU foreign minister" post for a "High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy".
The new EU foreign policy chief will permanently chair ministerial meetings and serve as Vice-President of the Commission, merging the jobs of High Representative Javier Solana and external relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The foreign policy high representative will be supported by an external action service made up of national and EU diplomats.
The "Reform Treaty" takes up the main institutional changes proposed by the draft EU Constitution. It foresees:
- the introduction of a permanent EU president;
- a foreign policy representative, and;
- provides for new compositions of the Parliament and the Commission in an enlarged Union.
Among the new elements introduced figure a stricter separation of competences between the EU and its member states, a greater say for national parliaments and an option for closer police and judicial co-operation in criminal matters.
