The future of Europe should include more effective political integration, the president of the European Commission has said.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris, Romano Prodi said he wanted to go "beyond the minutiae of institutional considerations" to address the direction of Europe.

"Globalisation is bringing about changes similar to those which resulted from the discovery of America five centuries ago: the world is becoming smaller; the trade in ideas and material goods is expanding," argued Prodi. As a result, nation states on their own do not have the critical mass to take effective action.

Europe enjoyed three key advantages, said Prodi, the economic size of the single market, enlargement "which will transform the Union into a continental power" and the intellectual capital of the people of Europe.

However, the lack of public interest in how the EU functions "indicates that it is time to build Europe along different lines."

"The international and internal conditions for the real politicisation of the European integration process have now been met: the time has come to take our future in hand and to shape it. The time has come to build a political Europe," he said.

Prodi said the EU should set itself internal objectives of prosperity (including a debate on what economic union means in practice) and solidarity, and external objectives which should include learning to speak with one voice.

To be strong, he continued, the EU needs the financial and institutional means to achieve its objectives.

Prodi announced he had come to the "cautious" opinion that the EU's present structure of Community and intergovernmental spheres is probably outdated.

Europe's foreign policy High Representative, Javier Solana, should be a member of the European Commission, said Prodi.

Addressing EU decision-making, Prodi noted that "All too often, we aim for consensus even when there is none to be found, and progress grinds to a halt".

Voting should replace consensus as the basis for decision-making, said Prodi, with Qualified Majority Voting eventually being replaced with a system "in which decisions reflect the will of the largest number but apply equally to each and everyone".

The Commission president noted that the debate on the future of the EU had begun in earnest. However, ahead of his speech Commission sources were quoted as saying that Prodi's contribution was arranged months ago, and was not a reaction to Lionel Jospin's speech on Monday or a contribution to the UK's election debate.

"Heed should be paid to the general aspiration of Europeans to be governed at the closest possible level, and to their parallel desire for efficiency, which at times means that decisions are better taken at European rather than local or national level," he said.

The separation of powers between the executive, legislative and judicial branches, a system of "checks and balances" and the introduction of a European tax in place of contributions from member states are all issues on the table, Prodi concluded.

Seizing on the speech as evidence that the EU would develop into a "superstate" shadow foreign secretary Francis Maude accused Prodi of ignoring the views of the British people.

"The next British government will be under intense pressure to hand over more of the nation's powers to Brussels. Conservatives will say no to more integration," he said.