MEPs: constitution still has a future

Date: 09/06/05

After the French and Dutch have rejected the proposed EU constitution, European Union leaders are squaring up for a thorny debate - over what the EU is actually for and what its future direction should be.

In an ironic twist, when UK Prime Minister Tony Blair addresses the European Parliament a week before the UK takes up the EU presidency on 1 July, many in the audience will look to him to outline his plans for extricating the EU from this crisis.

MEPs themselves are not short of solutions to the question everyone is asking: where does the EU go from here?

Most of the political groups in Parliament agree that the ratification process should continue, after a cooling-off period, if only to hear what voters or parliamentarians in all countries have to say.

Where they then part company is over the future direction of the EU.

Hans-Gert Pöttering, German leader of the European People's Party (EPP-ED), the largest group, believes the constitution can still be salvaged.

He certainly does not agree with those arguing that the time has come for a slowing down of the Union's legislative work.

"That idea is wrong. It should be business as usual for normal legislation."

But recent events should lead to a period of "reflection", he says.

"We need to look for solutions, and quickly."

EPP-ED colleague and compatriot, Elmar Brok, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, disagrees somewhat, saying that now is the time for "consolidation".

Brok says one way of restoring public confidence in the Union is to insist that all resent and future EU legislation satisfies a three-fold test: subsidiarity, low cost and compatibility.

The 'business as usual' option is not one shared by Daniel Cohn-Bendit, co-leader of the Greens/EFA group, who describes such an approach as a "big mistake".

"We need a new European initiative, a change of direction," says the former student activist.

He says all EU institutions, including the Parliament, should do some "soul-searching" to find a way out of the crisis.

Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist group, believes that, although it needs to be ratified by all 25 member states, the constitution can be saved. But he warns against "brushing aside" public scepticism as expressed by the French 'Non' and Dutch 'Nee'.

"Many Europeans of today see the EU as a soulless project," says Schulz. "They need to rediscover their passion for Europe - and Europe needs to show it has a soul."

Liberal group leader Graham Watson says the EU should now push the "pause" button.

"Politicians ignore expressions of public sentiment at their peril. If the EU is to succeed, it needs the support of a broad majority of its people. Unless we push the pause button we will see Europe killed by a series of 'No' votes. Rather than 'death by a thousand cuts', we should freeze the process of ratification and hold all remaining plebiscites at the same time: by 1 November 2007 with new leaders in Paris and The Hague, the French and Dutch might agree to try again."

Liberal MEP Chris Davies calls on the UK government to use its presidency to implement a number of innovations proposed in the constitution, including Article 1-24 which requires the Council of Ministers to take its decisions about EU laws in public.

"No new laws would be required to introduce the measures so they do not bypass any requirement for formal ratification of contentious parts of the treaty," he says.

Polish deputy Maciej Giertych, of the Independence and Democracy group, hopes that the French and Dutch rejection of the treaty can mark the "turning point" in Europe's history.

"Perhaps this will start a chain reaction which will make it possible to block the supranational madness."

His comments are echoed by Timothy Kirkhope, leader of the British Conservative delegation in Parliament, who urges "the EU elite" to accept the fact that two founding members of the club have chosen "to put the brakes on European integration".

Gary Titley, leader of Labour MEPs, says the EU should choose to "develop an agenda of economic and political reform that impacts people's lives".

• Who else is having a referendum: Luxembourg: 10 July; Denmark: 27 September; Poland: possibly 9 October; Ireland: late 2005; Portugal: late 2005; UK: decided to shelve legislation paving the way for a referendum in Spring 2006; Czech Republic: possible vote in June 2006.

Article features voices from the European Parliament on how to proceed with the ratification of the Constitutional Treaty for Europe after it was rejected in popular referendums in France and the Netherlands.