Constitution could be a role model: Leiden

By Karen Carstens

Date: 22/01/04

A PROMINENT German Social Democrat MEP has criticized activists at the World Social Forum for attacking the proposed EU constitution.

"The fight of some non-governmental organizations against the European constitution is absurd and counter-productive," said Jo Leinen, a constitutional expert and member of the Socialist delegation to the six-day forum in Bombay, which ended yesterday (21 January).

In a debate on "Democracy and Constitution - a North-South Dialogue", Leinen stressed that the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in the draft EU constitution ensured that "human beings and not markets were at the heart of politics".

He said the constitution posed no threat to democracy and citizens' rights, as some anti-globalization activists fear, but was instead "a model for the improvement of democracy and citizens' participation at a trans-national level" that "could act as a beacon for similar regional groupings in Latin America, Africa or Asia".

It was not the constitution, but EU policies, such as export subsidies for agricultural goods, that created friction between Europe and the developing world, he added.

Protests against US foreign policy also dominated the event, with many delegates claiming that President George W. Bush's war on terrorism had made the world a more dangerous place.

"Bush is the new extreme," said Ramsey Clark, who was attorney-general under former president Lyndon Johnson. "If the US dominates the UN as it has done in the past, there will be no security for anybody."

The meeting seeks to rival the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which began yesterday (21 January).

Report of a speech by Social democrat MEP Jo Leinen at the World Social Forum, Mumbai, India, 16-21 January 2004.

• Primary Source

http://www.wsfindia.org/ http://www.wsfindia.org/

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