Irish MEPs under threat

IRELAND will lose more MEPs if proposals being put forward by the head of the organisation debating the future of the European Union are accepted.

Valery Giscard d’Estaing, the chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe, also wants the EU to have a full-time president, abolishing the present rotating system.

This change would mean a small country like Ireland, which holds the EU presidency next year, would be squeezed out as it would only be held by large countries. To gain a geographical balance in the power sharing, Mr Giscard d’Estaing wants a vice-president appointed.