Paris, 26/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - Sylvie Goulard and Christian Lequesne, in a paper entitled "European constitution, if and only if…" written after a discussion carried out by the working group of the Centre for International Studies and Research (CERI) in Political Sciences in Paris, presented the arguments for and against the adoption of a constitution for the European Union, and reach the conclusion that, at this stage in the development of the Union, "a constitution would be a way of "returning Europe" to the people that form it". "The existence of the Euro does not justify, in itself, the adoption of a founding act of a political nature?", they wonder when outlining the reasons "for", among which the also cite the unprecedented enlargement to which the EU is preparing itself. Among the voices "against", they note those of some lawyers, who assert that the Treaties already constitute, in a certain manner, a constitution, or those, like Jacques Delors, who feel that "a good treaty is worth more than a bad constitution, and who "fear", rightly so, that the eurosceptics jump into the breach to push back integration."
According to the authors, the adoption of a constitution "will mark a stage if it is not another Treaty", negotiated according to the intergovernmental method. This is why they suggest the following procedure (which involves the Franco-German couple to be perfectly harmonious: Ed.); - debates within the national parliaments: according to them, "for the first time in their history, the National Assembly and the Bundestag will have to, on this occasion, hold a joint session from which will emerge proposals from their members", while the other national parliaments will be invited to "debate and produce a report"; - the selection by a group of Member States keen to move ahead, to the benefit of France and Germany, of a restrained group of independent experts, preparing a coherent draft" (this group will also include candidate countries); - the examination of the draft within a Convention "open to all the States which are interested in continuing integration (the authors recognise that this constitutional exercise "will certainly ring the bell for a certain differentiation within the European Union", and assert that "we do not see why the dilution planned by those who do not want to budge on anything would be more in accordance with the European spirit that the creation of an open vanguard"). This Convention will be formed of "national and European parliaments", experts and representatives from national governments: ". As for the approval of this text, they could either consider "a validation at the European level", or a more classical ratification procedure "through the national path". (Address: CERI, 56 rue Jacob 75006 Paris. Tel: 58 71 70 00, E-mail: lequesmme@ceri-sciences-po.org).