We benefit well from Nice

UNDER the Nice treaty, the five larger states in Europe (namely, Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Britain) will all forgo their current right to nominate a second member to the European Commission from 2004.

That means that each member state in Europe will nominate one member to the European Commission until the membership of the EU reaches 27 countries. This means that smaller member states have the same rights of representation on the European Commission as larger member states.

The system of membership of the European Commission after the EU has more than 27 members will be decided upon only by full agreement of all the governments in Europe and any new arrangement will be based on the principle of equality and strict rotation between smaller and larger member states. It is clear that smaller member states in Europe, including Ireland, did well out of the reform of the European Commission under the Nice Treaty.