LONDON (AFX) - UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw brushed aside suggestions that Europe Minister Peter Hain spoke out of line yesterday when outlining a possible timetable for UK membership of the euro. Speaking on Radio 4's Today programme, Straw said Hain "uses some dramatic metaphorical language to get across a point". Hain caused a stir yesterday when suggesting to the French newspaper Le Figaro that a UK referendum on the euro could come as early as spring 2003, paving the way for the introduction of notes and coins before 2005, the most likely date of the next UK general election. Straw insisted that the government's euro policy has not changed. He said that the government supports the project in principle, but in practice entry depends on a "thorough, objective assessment by the Chancellor...At the end of that there will be a referendum." Chancellor Gordon Brown is due to make his assessment by the summer of 2003 but there are growing calls from pro-European campaigners for the issue to be dealt with earlier. The argument about Hain's comments is detracting from Straw's speech later today at The Hague. Straw will set out plans to make EU institutions more democratic and accountable. He said he is interested in simplifying the framework in which the EU operates and conceded that its processes are "very cumbersome". He added that in some areas, the EU should operate with a lighter touch or with no touch at all, and that powers should go back to the nation state. He said one change could involve the way the Presidency of the European Council operates. Currently, the Presidency changes every six months. That would mean a major nation state like the UK will hold the Presidency every 12.5 years once the EU expands to 25 nation states. pp/slm/