BIRMINGHAM, England, Oct. 16, 1992 (UPI) -- Reacting to widespread popular discontent with the Maastricht Treaty on European unity, leaders from the region vowed Friday to build a more democratic European Community that would be respectful of the traditions of its member states.
No major decisions were taken at the special one-day summit, but the leaders clearly wanted to demonstrate they had heard the message of the millions of Europeans who had expressed opposition in referendums or public opinion polls to closer political and economic unity as envisioned by Maastricht.
''We're looking for a more open Community, a Community that respects national traditions, a Community which only acts where it has been given power to do so,'' said British Prime Minister John Major, who holds the current EC presidency, during his closing remarks to the summit.
The heads of government repeated their commitment to obtaining full ratification of the treaty. To date five countries -- France, Belgium, Ireland Luxembourg and Greece -- have ratified the document, but Denmark rejected it in a June referendum.
''There is a need to send a message of trust against a two-speed Europe. Nobody should be locked out,'' German Chancellor Helmut Kohl told his colleagues.
Turning to the current trade talks, the leaders said ''useful progress'' had been made in last week's negotiations between the EC and the United States, and they called for a new trade accord under the auspices of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade ''by the end of the year.''
But French European Affairs Minister Elisabeth Guigou told reporters earlier that she did not understand why a negotiation that has been going on for six years suddenly had to be ended within weeks. Paris has adamantly opposed demands by Washington that the EC significantly cut its farm subsidies, holding up an overall GATT accord.
Community leaders, saying the coming winter posed the threat of a ''major human tragedy'' in the former Yugoslavia, pledged $283 million in humanitarian aid to refugees of the war. The EC leaders admitted that the commitments made by the warring parties at the recent London conference had not been honored.
The final statement called on the Community's foreign ministers to suggest ways on opening the work of the Community's institutions to the public before the Edinburgh summit in early December, including the possibility of opening some ministers' meetings to the public.
''We reaffirm that decisions must be taken as closely as possible to the citizen,'' it said. ''Greater unity can be achieved without excessive centralization.''
''The Community can only act where member states have given it the power to do so in the treaties,'' the statement continued. ''Action at the Community level should happen only when proper and necessary.''
The statement was a reference to the so-called theory of subsidiarity, or the division of powers between EC institutions and the member states that has become the key debating point among Community leaders since the rejection of the Maastricht Treaty by the Danes and its narrow approval by French voters.
Major said specific areas where the principle can be applied were under study and would be announced at the Edinburgh summit in early December. Kohl said the measures ''must explain where the Commission can act and where it cannot act.''
French President Francois Mitterrand said subsidiarity ''means the distribution of authority'' and suggested officials should look for specific issues that should be left for individual governments to resolve.
One idea discussed to bring the Community closer to the average citizen is to open some ministerial meetings to the public and television, but the subject appears to have been received with some skepticism. The EC leaders had previously rejected Major's suggestion that a portion of Friday's meeting be opened to the public.
In a long report to the council EC Commission President Jacques Delors said Community legislation should be more limited, clearer and better explained, and he suggested publishing a program of the Commission's agenda each year to give national parliaments the chance to debate the issues. Delors would also like to see each EC commissioner given liaison duties with a national Parliament.
But Delors said the principle of subsidiarity should not be used to repeal legislation passed in recent years to standardize regulations on goods and services before the start of the barrier-free market next Jan. 1.
As expected the leaders failed to announce any measures designed to reassure jittery financial markets following last month's crisis within the European Monetary System. The crisis resulted in the withdrawal of the British pound and the Italian lira from the system's exchange rate mechanism.
There was also no mention of how to deal with the deepening recession in Europe, symbolized this week by the announcement that the British government would close all but 19 of the country's 31 remaining coal mines by March, putting 30,000 miners out of work.
Another tricky issue left for the Edinburgh summit was how to handle the Danish rejection of the treaty. The Council said it welcomed Copenhagen's decision to present a white paper outlining its difficulties with Maastricht and ordered a report for December.
The Danish government, which supported the treaty, says it needs substantive changes in the document if it is to present it again for ratification by the voters. Basically the Danes want a provision such as that granted Britain that would allow them to ''opt-out'' of the common currency and defense policies called for in the treaty.
The Danes are also afraid that their generous social welfare policies will be seriously curtailed by weaker Community rules.
''I am optimistic,'' Danish Prime Minister Poul Schluter said of the upcoming negotiations on the issue, ''but I also realize that it will take a lot of clever political work.''
