IGC is ignoring rights of citizens, says NGO group

By Martin Banks

Date: 27/11/03

EU GOVERNMENTS were this week accused of putting national interests before citizens' rights in their deliberations over a future constitutional treaty for Europe.

They were also attacked for failing to "reconnect" the public with the Union's institutions, which was one of the main aims of the Convention on the future of Europe when it started its work on the draft back in February 2002.

The Brussels-based Civil Society Contact Group, which represents hundreds of non-governmental groups and trade unions across Europe, says this objective has largely been abandoned by the intergovernmental conference (IGC), currently hammering out the final details of the new constitution.

The group's chairman, Giampiero Alhadeff, said: "NGOs and civil society are becoming increasingly concerned about how governments are conducting the IGC. After the relative transparency of the Convention, the IGC is reverting back to the old days of trading national interest instead of promoting citizens' rights.

"Civil dialogue is now worse than it was before the Convention started and the Italian presidency refuses even to meet with civil society.

"Yet it has managed to have meetings with the Catholic Church about the constitution twice."

He added: "At this rate, heads of government risk losing the whole constitutional project during the ratification process.

"Citizens and their elected parliamentarians will not buy a constitution that erodes the Convention's draft, that is negotiated in secret and without listening to civil society."

High on the list of points of conflict for the group are environmental issues and women's rights.

Mary McPhail, of the Social Platform, one of the civil society organizations affiliated to the Contact Group, said: "The Convention was already abysmally unrepresentative in terms of diversity and the equal participation of women, but at least it was transparent. Now a constitution is being negotiated behind closed doors by an almost entirely male IGC whose presidency refuses to talk to any civil society organization."

Meanwhile, the Union of European Federalists has warned that retention of the national veto will bring a newly-enlarged EU to a grinding halt.

The group, which campaigns for a more federal Europe, is pressing the IGC to extend the use of majority voting.

Secretary-General Bruno Boissière said: "After enlargement, the growing number of member states will make unanimous decision-making harder than ever before.

Yet Europe's future depends on effective and democratic decision making and that means majority voting in the Council whenever possible.

"If the current IGC cannot make those changes then another Convention should be called no later than 2008 to ensure that majority voting becomes the absolute rule."

http://www.eurostep.org/about/others/cscg.html http://www.eurostep.org/about/others/cscg.html

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