APPENDIX 3
Memorandum submitted by the Embassy of
the Slovak Republic
The Slovak Republic is well aware of the fact
that the main goal of the institutional reform is to ensure proper
functioning of the Union also after the enlargement. According
to our opinion, the reform should be of such a scope that the
inclusion of all the Candidate Countries of Central and Eastern
Europe will materialise without any additional changes to the
Treaties. At the same time, the course and completion of the institutional
reform should be scheduled in such a manner that any delay in
the accession of the Candidate Countries to the Union is avoided.
The Slovak Republic entirely aligns itself with
the Helsinki European Council conclusions that regards the three
left-overs of the Amsterdam Treaty as the basis for the Intergovernmental
Conference. However, the Slovak Republic is convinced that besides
the aforementioned matters the Intergovernmental Conference should
also deal with the Common Foreign and Security Policy, notably
with institutional impacts of building up the Common European
Security and Defence Policy. Re-allocation of seats in the European
Parliament is another area that should be addressed within the
framework of the Intergovernmental Conference.
As far as the left-overs of the Amsterdam Treaty
are concerned, the Slovak Republic advocates that each Member
State should have the right to nominate its commissioner to the
European Commission. We think that after an increase in the number
of Member States, division of portfolios among commissioners should
not cause any major problems. The Slovak Republic does not associate
itself with models grounded on rotation or regional basis nor
does it support the division of commissioners into two categories
according to the importance of their portfolios.
It is the interest of the Slovak Republic to
strike a balance between smaller and bigger countries also after
the EU enlargement and modify the weighting of votes of individual
Member States in the Council of Ministers. The Slovak Republic
understands that it will be necessary to adjust the current model
so that it reflects the size of population in the Member States
to a greater extent. In principle we do not object to the introduction
of the so-called double majority, however we deem it necessary
to preserve certain conditions favouring smaller EU Member States.
According to the view of the Slovak Republic
the principle of qualified majority voting should be brought into
general use and become a rule while relevant exemptions should
be explicitly stated. Our opinion is that the unanimity principle
should be further exercised in case of significant changes to
the founding Treaties and issues related to cardinal decisions
in the field of foreign policy, security and defence.
The Slovak Republic, as one of the prospective
members of the Union, highly appreciates the opportunity to convey
its views on the Intergovernmental Conference what is fully in
line with the Helsinki European Council conclusions. It is also
in our interest that the upcoming Intergovernmental Conference
comes to a successful end and its conclusions bring benefit to
both present and future EU members.
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