THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi, has called for a radical overhaul of the European Commission that would introduce a two-tier system of senior and junior commissioners.
The Commission President said such a change was needed if the Commission was to function efficiently in a Union of up to 30 member-states.
"We cannot maintain the status quo because we would be condemned to paralysis," he said.
Under the plan, the Commission President would appoint up to 10 vice-presidents with responsibility for major policy areas. The other Commissioners would have smaller portfolios but would continue to vote at Commission meetings, which would take place once a month rather than weekly, as at present.
The vice-presidents would meet at least once a week and would function as a kind of inner cabinet.
Mr Prodi said there was no question of allowing bigger countries to occupy the best jobs or to form a directorate that would run the EU.
"There will be no dictatorship by the major states. I will make choices on the basis of personal abilities rather than passports," he said.
There are 20 commissioners at present, with the bigger countries having two each. If the Nice Treaty is ratified, each country will have one commissioner until there are 27 member-states. After that, the number of commissioners will be fewer than the number of member-states and a system of rotation will be introduced.
Mr Prodi said that his proposal showed that a larger Commission can work.
"Each new country wants its own commissioner. The commissioners are the symbol of the link between the union and the member-states," he said.
Some critics of the Nice Treaty have suggested that its abandonment of the automatic right of each member-state to a commissioner is a fatal flaw.
But Mr Prodi said that his proposal had nothing to do with the debate over the treaty.
"It's what I can do with my power without violating Nice. I could in theory also do it now. But I don't want to change it now," he said.
Mr Prodi said the reforms should be agreed by the end of next year and could come into effect in 2004, when up to 10 new member-states are due to join the EU.
EU leaders will discuss a reform of the Council of Ministers when they meet in Seville on Friday. But the summit's agenda will be dominated by the issue of asylum and immigration.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Mr Jose Maria Aznar, said in Paris the European Union had reached a "practically complete" agreement on immigration, which will rank high on the agenda of the Seville summit.
Speaking after talks with French President Jacques Chirac, Mr Aznar said "some labelling" still had to be done before the paper on immigration that will be discussed during the summit.
Mr Chirac said France "agrees with practically all proposals" made by the Spanish presidency.
Earlier Mr Aznar, said in Copenhagen he was confident the leaders would overcome differences over whether to threaten sanctions on third countries that fail to cooperate against people smugglers or take back nationals rejected by Europe. Mr Aznar reiterated his proposal that non-compliance could lead to the suspension of co-operation agreements or a review of aid allocations. "It is common sense and should not cause any problems," he said.
