Brussels, 14/12/2023 (Agence Europe) – The Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union has indicated that it will include the European Parliament’s request to convene a Convention to reform the European treaties on the agenda of the Environment Council on Monday 18 December, rather than the following day alongside the Energy Council (see EUROPE 13304/3).
This point will not be debated by the ministers, the aim being simply to forward the European Parliament’s request based on Article 48 of the Treaty to the European Council, provided that a simple majority of Member States is reached.At the end of November, the Spanish government promised to take this step at the General Affairs Council on Tuesday 12 December, so that the issue could be discussed at the European Council on 14 and 15 December.
The MEPs - Guy Verhofstadt (Renew Europe, Belgian), Sven Simon (EPP, German), Gabriele Bischoff (S&D, German), Daniel Freund (Greens/EFA, German) and Helmut Scholz (The Left, German) - who steered the European Parliament resolution setting out options for treaty reform (see EUROPE 13298/7) said they were “extremely disappointed” that the European Council would not be asked to vote in December. “It would appear that the member states do not understand that, to deal with the current list of internal and external challenges, the Union needs to change as soon as possible”, they stressed in a press release.
It will therefore be up to the European Council to take a position, probably in the first half of 2024, on convening a Convention. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)