Accord on reforms

In a diplomatic breakthrough just two weeks before a crucial European Union summit, the team spearheading the drive for an EU constitution reached agreement yesterday on key institutional reforms.

Valery Giscard d'Estaing, who heads the team, said the accord includes a long-term president of the European Council, the supreme body of EU national leaders, to replace the current rotating presidency system.

"We think this agreement could form the basis for a final consensus (in the Convention on the Future of Europe)," the ex-French president told a news conference.

The presidency issue has proved particularly divisive among the constitution's authors. Britain said it feared the deal imposed too many restrictions on the new president, who is meant to ensure national governments remain in the EU's driving seat after the Union expands from 15 to 25 members next year.

Giscard hopes to win strong backing from the 105-member Convention in the coming days for his plan, which he will present to EU leaders in Greece on June 20-21.

Dick Roche, European minister of Ireland, one of the small states wary of the Council presidency idea, said: "If the same common sense that prevailed in the last 24 hours carries through the next seven days, we'll have a very successful outcome."

Under the plan, the long-term president of the European Council would replace a rotating system whereby each member state, regardless of size, gets six months at the Union's helm.

Big countries have pushed for the reform, but diplomats said the president's powers would be limited, reflecting concern among small nations and the executive European Commission that the new role might upset the EU's delicate balance of power.

The president, elected by national leaders for a term of up to five years, would not be able to interfere in the work of the Commission chief or of a planned new EU foreign minister.

But in a key revision, he could be a member of another EU institution, thus opening the way for the possible fusion in the future of the posts of president of the European Council and of the Commission - an innovation sought by EU federalists who seek stronger European integration.

Commission President Romano Prodi said he welcomed the consensus. "Important progress has been made with these proposals," he told reporters in Italy. "The debate of recent days has served to wake up peoples' minds and consciences."

Prodi was highly critical of the previous draft constitution, saying it lacked vision and imagination.

The British government's man in the Convention, Peter Hain, said he wanted more details on the deal, adding that the new president must be able to represent the EU on the world stage.