BERLIN (AFP) -- Former European Commission president Jacques Delors rejected proposals for dual leadership posts at the top of the EU and for a European foreign minister, in an interview with German financial weekly ***Wirtschafts Woche*** to be published today.

"I do not know how the proposed system of dual leadership should work, in which a European Council of Ministers is pitted against the commission president," Delors said. "The role of the commission should not be weakened."

Delors, who was commission president from 1985 to 1995, was also skeptical about the notion of an EU foreign minister.

"That we would have a common European foreign policy because we have a common European foreign minister would be a political miracle," he said.

"But institutions don't create miracles." He said he hoped for the sake of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on the future EU constitution, beginning October 4 in Rome, that "everyone leaves their national wish lists at home".

Otherwise, "the conference could skid out of control and we would have to fear the worst".

Delors said a failure of the IGC, a months-long process aimed at ratifying the EU constitution, could even spell the collapse of the EU.

"Some countries could be tempted to split off and try something new," he said.

The IGC will bring together leaders of the 15 EU member countries as well as the 10 mostly ex-communist countries due to join the bloc in May next year. The new constitution is designed to streamline the EU's institutions and decision-making processes before the bloc enlarges.

While European heavyweights such as Germany and France have warned against major changes to the draft constitution, smaller countries are pushing for adjustments to ensure their influence within the bloc.