Author (Person) | Bolton, Rohan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Series Details | 13.10.03 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publication Date | 13/10/2003 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Introduction European Union (EU) leaders and heads of government met in Rome on 4 October 2003 to launch an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). The remit of this IGC is to produce a new Constitutional Treaty to replace the existing Treaties with one single text - a single framework to ensure that the EU remains both democratic and effective after enlargement. An Intergovernmental Conference is a special committee of representatives of the governments of the EU Member States convened to consider amendments to the Treaties. They meet at the request of the Council of Ministers, in accordance with Article 48 of the Maastricht Treaty. Since the foundation of the Community there have been seven significant revisions of the Treaties: the 1965 Merger Treaty, the 1970 and 1975 Treaties on the budgetary powers of the European Parliament, the 1986 Single European Act (SEA), the 1992 Maastricht Treaty on European Union and the 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam (in force since May 1999), and the 2001 Treaty of Nice (in force since February 2003). For the first time in the history of the European Union this IGC was preceded by a European Convention, with 105 delegates, including representatives of governments and members of national parliaments from 28 countries as well as representatives of EU institutions, deliberating on the best way forward. As the aim was to provide a more open and transparent method of revising the Treaties, debates were held in public and all contributions from members of the Convention, proceedings of the debates and drafts of the texts were made available on the Convention website. The outcome of these discussions was the Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, presented to the Thesssaloniki European Council in June 2003 by the President of the European Convention Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. The heads of government meeting in Thessaloniki accepted in their conclusions [pdf] (paragraph 5) that this draft Treaty was a 'good basis' for negotiations starting in the IGC. The European Council agreed that the IGC should complete its work and agree the Constitutional Treaty as soon as possible and in time for it to 'become known to European citizens' before the June 2004 elections to the European Parliament. The Constitutional Treaty will be signed by the Member States of the enlarged Union as soon as possible after 1 May 2004. Any Treaty emerging from the IGC will need to be agreed unanimously before being presented to Member States for ratification in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements. Practical arrangements for the IGC The IGC participants are heads of state (or government) and foreign ministers (or Europe ministers) of the 15 existing members of the EU, together with the ten countries due to join in May 2004, with the Italian EU Presidency chairing the meetings. Prime ministers attended the first meeting of the conference on 4 October 2003 and will take part in two more of the eight meetings scheduled before the end of 2003, at European Councils in Brussels on 16-17 October and on 12-13 December. A timetable [pdf] was published at the beginning of October 2003, giving an indication of the likely topics to be covered and the level of discussion in the main meetings scheduled before the European Council in December 2003:
The Italian EU Presidency has proposed that the IGC negotiations should be based on written questionnaires sent to the Member States and, when considered necessary, on separate consultations. The results of these consultations are being posted on the Documents website of the IGC. The legal examination of the forthcoming Treaty has been assigned to a group consisting of legal experts from the judicial organs of the EU institutions and from the Member States in order to ensure that discussions within the IGC are based on a text which is clear and legally correct. The first version of this - a 553 page document was published in French on the IGC website on 6 October 2003 - Observations rédactionnelles et juridiques sur le projet de traité établissant une Constitution pour l'Europe - Document de base [pdf]. The European Commission is represented by President Romano Prodi accompanied by the Commissioner for Regional Policies, Michel Barnier. Mr. Barnier will also participate in ministerial sessions, together with Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner António Vitorino. Two European Parliament representatives and the three candidate countries, Bulgaria and Romania, with whom negotiations are underway, and Turkey, will take part in IGC meetings as observers. The Italian Presidency's aim is to bring the IGC negotiations to a conclusion during its EU Presidency, in time for a new Treaty of Rome to be signed, possibly in May 2004 when the ten new members formally join the EU. Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe Issues Summaries of the proposals contained in the draft Treaty can be found in: European Parliament Summary of the draft Constitution adopted by the Convention; European Commission Draft Constitution: citizens' guide [pdf] and a study by the pressure group Statewatch Annotated texts of the proposed EU Constitution. The draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe is divided into four parts, dealing respectively with
The main points of discussion at the IGC will include: Members of the European Commission The draft constitution proposes a two-tier Commission with 15 voting and 10 non-voting members; every five years countries would rotate across the tiers. Many current and future Member States want all 25 commissioners to have a vote, on the principle of 'one country one vote'. The President of the Commission is also in favour of keeping 25 Commissioners. It is not clear what role there will be for the proposed non-voting Commissioners nor how an EU of 25 would be able to function until the proposed changes to the Commission take effect in 2009. A questionnaire [pdf] on the Composition of the Commission has been circulated by the IGC Presidency in advance of the Ministerial meeting on 14 October 2003. This proposal has been vigorously denounced by small Member States, who met in Prague in September 2003 to prepare a campaign to ensure they continue to have a commissioner with full powers in Brussels. (For further detail on this see the 'Opinion in the Member States' section below). European Council and a permanent President The European Council is to become a full institution. The revolving Presidency, whereby each Member State in turn holds the Presidency for six months, will be replaced by a permanent President for the Council. A number of countries, mainly the smaller ones, say the new proposal favours the bigger countries, and want rotation to continue. There is some controversy over the powers that the new President will be allowed. The UK would be happy for an expansion of his or her role while the smaller countries are hoping to limit the President's powers. Council of Ministers The draft Constitution provides for a Legislative and General Affairs Council to be set up in order to ensure consistency in the Council's work and a Foreign Affairs Council to be chaired by the EU Minister for Foreign Affairs. A specific legal basis will allow the European Council to set up other formations of the Council, chaired by representatives of Member States on the basis of equal rotation. Important details have yet to be agreed as to how to run these sectoral Councils - trade, agriculture, economics, finance and so on, in particular how the Presidency of these will be determined. An initial paper produced by the IGC on the Presidency [pdf] outlines the various positions adopted by the Member States. Options, which are not necessarily exclusive, include maintenance of the six-monthly Presidency rotation system; Presidency by election within each Council formation; or a 'Team' Presidency system by which the chairmanship of individual Council formations is shared out amongst a group of Member States within a set period. It is unclear what, if any, powers the new President will have over these Council presidencies. Majority voting and the use of the veto Voting in the Council of Ministers is to be based on a simple 'double majority' system, based on population. The draft Treaty (Article 24) says votes should be carried if at least half of Member States support a motion, representing at least three fifths (60%) of the EU's population. Spain and Poland have objected to this proposal, wanting to stick to a system of weighted votes agreed in the 2000 Nice Treaty. An extension of qualified majority voting within the Council is envisaged by the draft Constitution for some thirty provisions for which unanimity is currently required, although the veto is set to remain in key areas including foreign policy, defence, tax, and some social security issues. The UK and Ireland both have reservations on this issue. Defence cooperation There is to be a possibility for certain countries to have more defence cooperation. The UK, the Netherlands and some of the new Member States say this encroaches on NATO's role. On top of that, Britain is concerned at the idea too of a core group of countries giving each other a mutual defence guarantee outside of NATO. Minister for Foreign Affairs There is to be a new EU foreign minister, combining in one post the responsibilities currently falling to the Commissioner for External Relations and the High Representative. An early paper [pdf] from the IGC states that 'The concept of the double-hatted Foreign Minister has not been called into question by any delegation'. A questionnaire [pdf] on the European Union Minister for Foreign Affairs has been circulated by the IGC Presidency in advance of the Ministerial meeting on 14 October 2003. EU Charter of Fundamental Rights The EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights is set to become part II of the constitution. Religion The preamble to the draft constitution makes no reference to Christianity, or any other religion. Poland believes it should, and has support from Spain and Italy. Staunchly secular France, and some countries which back Turkish EU membership, oppose the idea. (See European Voice: 11.09.03: European Parliament The European Parliament's legislative and budgetary powers are consolidated, so that it votes on nearly all EU decisions and elects the President of the European Commission on a proposal from the European Council. National Parliaments A protocol on the application on the principles of subsidiarity gives national parliaments a say on whether legislative proposals comply with the principle of subsidiarity. Opinion in the Member States Germany, France, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Denmark are largely happy with the draft. Many of the smaller members are dissatisfied with the proposal for a two-tier Commission; Austria, Finland and other smaller countries including the 10 new members from eastern and southern Europe argue that plans to reduce the number of European Commissioners with the power to vote would undermine their position. (See Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs press release; Financial Times: The Finnish Prime Minister reporting to Parliament on 2 September 2003 said of the two-tier Commission:
The Austrian Foreign Minister clarified on 29 September in Brussels the points that she hopes to see discussed before the conclusion of the IGC.
The UK government views were published in a White Paper A Constitutional Treaty for the EU: the British approach to the European Union Intergovernmental Conference 2003 [pdf] Cm 5934, on 9 September 2003. Tony Blair, in his introduction to the White Paper writes:
The British Government has its 'red lines', mostly to do with keeping a veto in a number of areas including tax, social security and criminal law. There is also an issue over whether moves for an EU defence policy might affect NATO. The UK has launched a website allowing for Online consultation on the draft EU Constitutional Treaty where users can view comments made by others as well as contributing to the debate. Institutional opinions European Parliament The European Parliament adopted a Resolution on 24 September 2003 based on a Report on the draft Treaty by the Constitutional Affairs Committee. The Daily Notebook for 24 September 2003 summarises Parliament's Opinion as follows: In their resolution MEPs call on the IGC not to challenge consensus reached by Convention and to approve the draft treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe “without altering its basic balance while aiming at reinforcing its coherence”. They support the Italian Presidency's intention of winding up the proceedings by December this year. MEPs would like the new treaty to be signed by the 25 Member States on 9 May 2004, which is also “Europe Day”. If their constitutions allow, all Member States should then hold a referendum, if possible on the same day as the European elections. Among the points to be welcomed, MEPs highlight the inclusion of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the simplification of EU acts, the abolition of the pillar structure, the wider use of the co-decision procedure and of qualified majority voting, the election of the President of the Commission by Parliament, the introduction of the citizen's right of legislative initiative, the possibility of structural co-operation in security and defence policy “while respecting Alliance commitments”, and the separation of the Euratom Treaty from the legal structure of the future Constitution. Among the 'aspects requiring further monitoring' are the election of the President of the European Council, whose role MEPs say should be strictly limited to chairing proceedings in order to avoid any conflicts with the President of the Commission or the EU Foreign Minister. The Foreign Minister should, moreover, be supported by a joint Council-Commission administration. MEPs also call for a more prominent role for Parliament in the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and defence policy. They add that, under the budget procedure, their powers should not be reduced by comparison with the present situation. They welcome the disappearance of the link between the weighting of votes in Council and the distribution of seats in Parliament, a link laid down in the protocol to the Nice Treaty, and they suggest that the new distribution of seats in Parliament be implemented without delay. As regards the 'shortcomings', the House voices concern about 'unsatisfactory answers to some fundamental questions', particularly regarding the consolidation of economic and social cohesion policy, the co-ordination of economic policy, the appointment of members of the Court of Justice and the Court of First Instance, the continuation of unanimous voting in Council for the CFSP and certain areas of social policy. MEPs also hope that the reform of the Commission will not affect the collegiate nature of this institution and they regret that the system envisaged makes it difficult to keep a good European Commissioner for a second term. An amendment proposed aiming to recognise the Judeo-Christian values in the Constitution was rejected.' European Commission The Commission feels that 'A system entailing ... 'first-class' and 'second-class' Commissioners would destroy the institution's collegial nature. The result would be a loss of legitimacy and reduced effectiveness for the EU as a whole.' In its opinion [pdf] adopted on 17 September 2003 a new system of decentralised decision-making is proposed, with up to seven senior commissioners leading small teams devoted to different policy areas such as foreign affairs, home affairs or the economy. The leaders of each team might become part of an inner cabinet with the president, although that is not specifically envisaged in the paper. (For a summary of the proposal see Commission press release and Q and A on the Commission's Opinion). European Central Bank The European Central Bank's opinion, adopted on 22 September 2003 'understands that the transfer of the provisions on the ECB and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) from the EC Treaty to the Constitution will not entail any changes to the substance, and that the tasks, mandate, status and legal regime of the ECB and of the ESCB remain substantially unchanged.' Economic and Social Committee The Economic and Social Committee (ESC) adopted an opinion on 24 September 2003. It is requesting that the ESC should be 'designated 'European Economic and Social Council', to be included in the list of institutions and bodies making up the Union's institutional framework' Committee of the Regions The Committee of the Regions' proposals for submission to the IGC will be debated 9 October 2003 on the basis of a report by Sir Albert Bore, the President of the Committee and Mr Bocklet, the First Vice-President. The future If Europe's leaders do succeed in reconciling their differences in the IGC they still have to engage the public in the debate about the new constitution. All countries will have to ratify the new Treaty, either in national parliaments or through potentially fraught referendums. Countries likely to be having referendums include Denmark, Ireland, France, Spain, Portugal, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The European Referendum Campaign's website has details of the latest position regarding a referendum in each European country. 2006 is the earliest feasible date for the treaty to come into force, once it has been ratified in all the Member States. Further information within European Sources Online
Further information can be seen in these external links: EU institutions Intergovernmental Conference - Future of the Union
European Central Bank European Commission
European Commission: DG Press and Communication: RAPID: Press releases
European Commission: Secretariat General
European Convention
European Council
European Economic and Social Committee
European Parliament Italian Presidency Intergovernmental Conference - IGC
European Ombudsman
National governments
Bulgaria
Czech Republic: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Estonia
Finland Greece: Hellenic Centre for European Studies
Greece: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Ireland: Department of Foreign Affairs
Italy
Lithuania
Malta-EU Information Centre
Poland
Portugal
Romania
Sweden: Ministry for Foreign Affairs
United Kingdom: Foreign and Commonwealth Office
United Kingdom: House of Commons: Library United Kingdom: House of Commons: Select Committee on European Scrutiny
United Kingdom: House of Lords: Select Committee on European Union
Other external sources BBC News Online
European Policy Centre
European Referendum Campaign
Friends of Europe
Radio Prague
Royal Institute for International Relations (Belgium)
Statewatch
Trades Union Congress
Vote 2004 (Campaign for a UK referendum on the European Constitution)
Rohan Bolton Background and reporting on the week's main stories in the European Union and the wider Europe. |
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Subject Categories | Politics and International Relations |
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