Pöttering shifts from Merkel’s treaty stance

By Simon Taylor

Date: 16/03/06

Hans-Gert Pöttering, leader of the EPP-ED group in the Parliament, has moved away from Chancellor Angela Merkel's line that there should be a renewed effort to get the current constitutional treaty adopted in its current form.

Speaking in Strasbourg on 14 March, Pöttering said that the current text was the "basis for the eventual outcome" of efforts to get the constitution ratified. This wording is close to the compromise reached by MEPs in December on the fate of the constitution which says that the current text should be maintained if possible but should serve as the basis for further renegotiation if necessary.

Pöttering also appeared to be open to proposals to ratify the first and second parts of the treaty, which deal with institutional arrangements and the Charter of Fundamental Rights, without Part III which deals with specific policy areas.

"The draft constitutional treaty has two aspects. Decision-making processes must be simplified, the powers of the European Parliament must be increased and procedures must be more transparent," he said, adding that the Charter of Fundamental Rights was "essential for us".

While the official approach of Merkel's CDU-SPD coalition government is to re-launch efforts to get the existing constitution text adopted when Germany takes over the EU presidency in January 2007, Pöttering's views are similar to remarks made by French presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy who has called for the institutional parts of the constitution to be adopted in 2008.

A European Commission expert said that it was "legally impossible" to adopt Parts I and II of the constitution but not Part III. "Part III basically implements Part I so without it you can't actually implement things like the European foreign minister," the official said.

Pöttering's comments reflect the awareness that the French and Dutch electorates will not approve the same text if they were asked to vote again. Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot said recently that the constitution was dead but was rebuked by his colleagues in the European People's Party (EPP) for not clarifying that he meant that it was dead in its current form.

According to one Parliament source, Pöttering's remarks showed "recognition was slowly dawning" that to save the worthwhile parts of the constitution there was a need to accept it being presented in a different form.

The tensions within the EPP over how best to deal with the rejection of the constitution in France and the Netherlands are coming to the surface in preparations for the party's congress in Rome on 30-31 March.

A manifesto to be adopted at the meeting praises the merits of the current constitution text and calls for "the achievements and reforms proposed by the constitutional treaty to become reality". But national delegations are divided, with the Spanish Popular Party ruling out any piecemeal approach to implementation of the text while the Dutch exclude attempts to get the text ratified in its current form.

Article reports that Hans-Gert Pöttering, leader of the EPP-ED group in the Parliament, had moved away from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's line that there should be a renewed effort to get the current constitutional treaty adopted in its current form. Article brings together voices from across the political centre-right in the EU on how to proceed with the Constitutional Treaty. The EPP was to hold its congress in Rome on 30-31 March 2006.

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