HL Deb 11 February 2004 vol 656 cc155-6WA
Lord Stoddart of Swindon

asked Her Majesty's Government:

At which formal meeting of the Intergovernmental Conference of Member and Applicant States of the European Union requests were made to alter the voting values of an enlarged European Union Council from those already agreed and set down in the Treaty of Nice. [HL1086]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean)

The proposals to alter the system of voting in the Council were discussed during the Convention on the Future of Europe and were included in its final product, the draft Constitutional Treaty (which was presented to Parliament on 9 July). The European Council at Thessaloniki on 19 and 20 July concluded that "the text of the draft Constitutional Treaty is a good basis for starting in the Intergovernmental Conference".