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Date: 24/06/04
THE new constitution, which contains more than 400 articles, introduces some important innovations. They include:
- The Charter of Fundamental Rights will be judiciable by the Court of Justice (despite initial opposition from the UK);
- a permanent chair of the European Council;
- an EU foreign minister to represent the Union on the world scene, backed by a European diplomatic service;
- a new voting system in the Council based on a double majority. Under this, decisions will be taken if backed by 55% of the member states comprising at least 15 of them, representing 65% of the Union's population. A blocking minority must include at least four states;
- the size of the European Commission will be reduced to two-thirds of the number of member states from 2014;
- the powers of the European Parliament will be strengthened, as the number of areas in which it can co-legislate with the Council has almost doubled;
- an exit clause to allow a member state to leave the Union if it so wishes;
- a solidarity clause to commit member states to defending each other when one of the members of the bloc is under attack;
- an EU public prosecutor can be introduced by unanimous agreement of member states;
- QMV will be used in almost 50 new policy areas (including some social policy matters and CFSP, for decisions taken on the basis of proposals from the foreign minister), and;
- the number of seats in Parliament is limited to 750, with six for the smallest states and 96 for Germany (instead of the current 99).
Description of the key points of the agreement reached on the text of the Constitutional Treaty for Europe at the European Council, Brussels, 17-18 June 2004.
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