Federalists to call for treaty overhaul

Date: 07/05/1998

By Rory Watson

THE EU needs a proper constitution coupled with a radical overhaul of its existing treaties if it is to handle the twin challenges of enlargement and a single currency successfully.

That is the message which will emerge from a major three-day congress in The Hague this weekend organised by the European Movement.

The event, which opens tomorrow (8 May), will bring together a wide selection of European federalists and mark the 50th anniversary of the 1948 Hague Congress.

In a direct challenge to those member states reluctant to go down the federal route, the European Movement suggests that they should negotiate "a new basis for their relationship with the Union".

At the heart of the movement's criticism of the EU is the fear that it has failed to set any clear political objectives as it prepares for the euro and new members.

Speakers will lay the blame for this ideological vacuum on government leaders for failing to use their recent summit meetings on the Amsterdam Treaty, enlargement, unemployment and the single currency to define the objectives of the new Europe which is emerging.

"We must resolve, as soon as possible, the dangerous contradictions between, on the one hand, fast-moving economic integration linked to the single market and single currency and, on the other, stubborn political blockages on the institutional front, the Union's finances, judicial and police cooperation, external policies and the handling of international crises," warned former Portuguese Prime Minister Mario Soares, president of the International European Movement.

A clear call is likely to be made for the European Commission and Parliament to take the lead in stimulating a public debate and drafting a constitutional pact which would be negotiated with EU governments and take effect in 2002.

Preview and reports of a European Movement's Congress of Europe, The Hague, 8-10 May 1998.