Franco-German talks fail over voting powers

HANOVER, Germany -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and French President Jacques Chirac have failed to reach a compromise over Germany's demand for more voting power in the European Union.

But the two leaders said after a two-hour meeting in Hanover on Saturday they were determined not to let next week's EU summit in Nice fail over the issue.

Asked whether he and Chirac had reached a compromise over German demands for more votes in the EU's Council of Ministers, Schroeder said: "We have agreed that we will agree."

More voting powers for Germany could erode France's influence in the EU bloc, Paris officials fear.

Chirac also made clear no deal had been reached but insisted it was not a purely bilateral issue.

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"If we do get a good deal, which is acceptable for everyone, and allows us to run the EU in a sensible way, then there will be no Franco-German problem," he said.

Chirac, who as holder of the EU's rotating presidency was concluding a tour of member states, said that "slow progress" had been made during the tour. "We understand each other better now after these contacts," he said.

Chirac insisted this week he would oppose any "de-coupling" of the voting parity between Germany and France, each of which currently have 10 votes in the Council.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer sought on Friday to play down the conflict, insisting in a newspaper interview that while a reform of voting structures was needed, the issue was not just a Franco-German problem.

"It's not that unified Germany wants the prestige of having its larger population than France documented in the number of its votes," he told the Frankfurter Rundschau, adding that a complete overhaul of vote weighting was needed.

Germany's demands for more votes have been brought to a head by the Nice meeting in December which is aimed at revamping the EU's decision-making structures to allow 10 former communist countries as well as Malta and Cyprus the chance to enter the bloc from 2003 onwards.

Both leaders were eager to demonstrate solidarity, amid wide speculation that the Franco-German relationship, traditionally seen as the "motor" of European integration, had cooled.

"We want a success in Nice and we shall work together to that end," insisted Schroeder.

"We are pulling in the same direction," added Chirac.

"On the issue of qualified majority voting, progress is being made slowly because we are at the point where it's getting really difficult, where it hits the sensitive areas of the countries involved," he said.

"Either there will be an agreement or not -- but it will be in the very last minute of the Nice summit."

German officials are concerned Schroeder does not walk away from Nice empty-handed as he did last March in Berlin, when German demands for a cut in contributions into Brussels coffers were rejected.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Federal Government of Germany
German Ministry of Foreign Affairs (in German)
French Presidency of the EU
European Union

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