Call for elected president of Europe

German Foreign Minister alarms Euro-sceptics

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A senior German minister has called for a directly elected European Commission president and a two-chamber parliament.

German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer was outlining his vision for the European Union's future as it looks forward to expanding eastwards.

Fischer said the EU was heading for much closer political integration but that an enlarged Europe could not function without a strengthening of its institutions -- including the directly elected commission president.

He also called for a two-chamber parliament with the second chamber made up of national lawmakers, and a sharp reduction in the use of the national veto.

But Britain's Labour government said on Tuesday it did not share Fischer's view on a directly election of an EC president.

"We don't feel the time is right," a spokesman for Prime Minister Tony Blair said of the proposal.

In a speech last May, Fischer stirred up controversy by calling for a federal Europe led by a core of committed states.

Britain, ever wary of the word "federal," reacted with scorn to that proposal, saying Fischer was proposing a two-speed Europe.

On Tuesday, Fischer said the EU's planned eastward enlargement was forcing member states to contemplate deeper reforms in the way the 15-nation bloc conducts its business.

"From next year, we shall have to begin the process of deepening the EU in parallel with enlargement," he said.

Fischer reiterated German support for an extension of qualified majority voting even into sensitive areas like taxation and for a smaller but more effective Commission.

Britain has said it will accept an extension of majority voting in some areas -- such as transport and the environment -- but not in tax, defence, social security, border controls, and treaty changes.

Britain's view of the future of Europe was a Europe of nation states, Blair's spokesman said.

"Mr Fischer is perfectly entitled to make his own contribution to that debate, but it doesn't follow we would agree with everything he says," Blair's spokesman said.

The issue of voting rights is expected to dominate next month's inter-governmental conference at Nice, France, which aims to reform EU institutions to prepare for enlargement to the east.

Last week, the Commission raised the prospect of frontline candidates completing accession talks in 2002, which officials said would pave the way for their full accession by early 2005.

Fischer said it was essential to maintain the momentum, adding that the only alternative to enlargement in eastern Europe would be a rise in petty nationalism and possibly war.

"For the Union, enlargement will mean a gain in political stability, in economic dynamism and in importance on the world stage," he said.

"In 10 years, central and eastern Europe will be a booming market with growth rates twice those of the average EU level."

Fischer said Germany would seek a new Intergovernmental Conference in 2004 to tackle the thorny issues of an EU-wide constitution, mapping out the exact role and limits of the institutions and revising the Union's treaties.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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