Reacting today to the deal reached in Paris last night by President Chirac and Chancellor Schroeder, European Liberal Democrat spokesman in the Convention Andrew DUFF made the following statement:-

"While welcoming the closest possible cooperation between the French and German governments on all matters concerning the future of Europe, I do not find the statement of the two leaders convincing.

"It is more a barter deal than a genuine compromise. Neither could agree to each other's proposal, so they accepted both.

"The result is unfortunate, even potentially disastrous. The establishment of two executive presidents of the Union is a recipe for internal conflict and external cacophany. There seems to be little or no substantive detail behind the 'agreement'. And I simply cannot see either leader, or Mr Blair and the others for that matter, accepting the leadership of a super-president of the European Council.

"In the Convention we will now have to make a very critical appraisal of the Franco-German proposal, to consider all the consequences for all concerned - and not just for those heads of government who pine for lost prestige or who fail to grasp the rich complexity of the constitutional development of the European Union."

ENDS/...