France, Germany Reach Agreement on EU Reform: PaperFrance and Germany have reached agreement on the reform of European Union (EU) institutions and the introduction of German as a working language for the EU, Le Monde newspaper reported Thursday.The deal was struck during a meeting between French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine and his German counterpart Joschka Fischer in Berlin on Sunday, the paper said. But a written agreement is yet to be signed by the two ministers. An institutional reform is necessary for the EU to expand to take in Eastern European countries. France, which will take over the EU rotating presidency on July 1, wishes to complete the reform during its six-month term. The Franco-German agreement covers four areas -- the balance of votes at the European Council among EU members, the introduction of qualified majority voting instead of unanimous voting for adopting a draft law, closer cooperation among a limited number of EU members in a period of time, and the future size of the EU Commission, which now has 20 commissioners from 15 countries. France also agreed to have German as a working language in EU institutions, but French and English will remain the only two languages in institutions of foreign affairs and security policies. German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, French President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin will meet on June 9 in Mayence, western Germany, on EU institutional reform. |
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