PARIS (AFX) - Finance Minister Laurent Fabius said he is reluctant to give the governments of the EU the role of a second chamber of parliament, as outlined in the German Social Democrat party's plan to reform the institutions of the EU.
In an interview with Europe 1 radio, Fabius said however that he agrees with some key aspects of Schroeder's draft statement: the need to go further in the EU integration as well as the necessity to give a greater role to the European parliament, in particular enhanced budgetary powers.
Last week, Schroeder advocated the restructuring of the EU institutions to create a central EU government with a two-chamber parliament and expanded powers, one of them being the existing council of EU ministers.
Regarding the possible re-nationalisation of the common agriculture policy as well as the structural aid policy, Fabius said he sees them as a necessary tool that enables greater economic convergence between the EU countries.
Fabius also noted that the German plan omits the possibility of resorting to re-enforced co-operations to achieve more rapidly EU goals. Fabius said that the EU enlargement is compatible with further EU integration only if some member states -- such as France, Germany and the euro zone countries -- are given the possibility to integrate further and more rapidly than the rest of the member states.