Prodi wants more EU majority voting

EC president Romano Prodi today urged EU leaders to extend majority voting when they review the draft EU constitution.

Prodi said he was disappointed that the current draft, finished last week by a convention in Brussels, which he believes leaves too many decisions subject to a veto by individual member states.

“Unfortunately, the veto still applies to a large number of areas, including taxation,” Prodi said. “The right of veto spells deadlock for the Union.”

The chairman of the constitutional convention, former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, will present the draft to EU leaders at their summit, which opens tomorrow near Thessaloniki, Greece.

They are expected to set a date for a conference of government representatives which will review the text and negotiate changes.