Giscard calls for 'people's congress' to help voters accept Brussels

A "people's congress" to help bridge the divide between Europe's voters and its leaders has been proposed by Valèry Giscard d'Estaing as part of the former French president's efforts to revamp the European Union.

Mr Giscard, who is president of a convention debating the future of Europe, wants a group of national MPs and MEPs to meet, probably once a year, to discuss EU decisions and vet appointments.

Writing in the French daily Le Monde, Mr Giscard argued that the "democratic legitimacy of the Union will not be fully accepted by its citizens until there exists a forum that unites the two elements of legitimacy in the Union – the national and the European one".

His plan, which would see a selection of national and European MPs being gathered together, is the latest idea on how to tackle the gulf between policy makers in Brussels and their counterparts in the 15 member states of the EU.

The idea bears some similarity to Tony Blair's call for a second chamber of the European Parliament – made up of national politicians – to guard against the EU taking new powers. Mr Giscard's proposed body would not be given such a role – although Britain is still pressing for a separate body to guard against what it sees as creeping federalism.

The congress idea is likely to be controversial among MEPs, who guard their powers jealously. The suggestion that it would approve appointments – and possibly have the power to sack officials – will be seen by some MEPs as an encroachment on their territory.

The convention, which opened in February, is debating how to reform EU institutions so that up to 10 new members can be catered for in 2004. Its plans will have to be approved by all EU countries.

Mr Giscard, anxious that the convention does not rush into drawing up an integrationist constitution which would be rejected by member states, has insisted on a "listening phase" during which debates have been more general.

His task will get steadily more difficult when detailed proposals are formulated, as he tries to balance the desires of the convention and those of member states unwilling to give up more powers.

In Le Monde, Mr Giscard says there is a need for "simplification and for readability" of the EU's governing treaty, and for a clear definition of which powers should be exercised at an EU level and which should remain a national preserve.

He again compares the gathering of 105 delegates from the EU and applicant countries to that of America's founding fathers, who drew up the United States constitution in Philadelphia in 1787.

The latest plans to reshape Europe came on a day when the European Coal and Steel Community, the forerunner to the European Union, was consigned to history. The ECSC's blue and black flag was lowered for the last time outside a building in Brussels, marking the expiry of a treaty which came into force 50 years ago.

Forged in the aftermath of the Second World War, the ECSC was designed to ensure that by pooling control of their most important industries, Germany and France could never again go to war.