France Calls on EU to Be Responsible at Nice SummitFrance asked European Union (EU) members on Wednesday, December 6, to show "a group sense of responsibility" at the EU summit in Nice so that they may reach an agreement on EU institutional reform.The French presidential spokeswoman, Catherine Colonna, said France expects the 15 EU member countries to determine mutual concerns and to make the Nice summit from December 7 to 10 a success. She said country leaders will seek "a comprehensive, balanced, complete, efficient and credible agreement" in Nice to maintain the EU's credibility. "As the current EU president, France will do its best to arrive at an agreement with other members. If each participant works in this constructive spirit, a stronger and more efficient Europe will be born in Nice," said the spokeswoman. "We are convinced that the 15 EU members will be able to meet this challenge," she added. EU countries will try to reach an agreement on three major points of institutional reform: the size of the European Commission after eastern European expansion; re-allocation of member votes at the EU Council of Ministers; introduction of a qualified majority voting system in the Council of Ministers. Germany has asked for more votes in the Council of Ministers because of its large population after reunification. The request has been rejected by France, which insists on sharing the same number of votes with Germany. |
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