Brussels, 01/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - The Chairman of the European Parliament's Committee on Constitutional Affairs, member of Democratici di sinistra, Giorgio Napolitano, explained why he signed up to the manifesto on the "New Federalism" launched by some fifty Euro-MPs, stating that, at a time when the European Union is "to profoundly change its dimensions and characteristics in relation to the original Community", they had to prevent the debate within the Party of European Socialists being "tepid, evasive, diplomatised" (regarding the draft manifesto, see EUROPE of 28 February, p.6, as well as EUROPE/Documents annexed to today's bulletin). "It's on the fundamental issues of federalism as is again being proposed today, of the supranational institutions to reform and strengthen, of the now ripe constitutionalisation process that a deepening, a clarification, a choice has become essential", Napolitano told the initiators of the draft manifesto. He then added that his stance was that of "an Italian left-wing democrat, who formed himself as pro-European already in the ranks of the Italian Communist party, and by referring to the teachings and example of Altiero Spinelli". Historically, we know what was the role of French, Italian and German Christian-Democrats in the first phase of European construction, but one has not to forget that the Socialist Paul-Henri Spaak was also one of the "founding fathers" of the European Community, Mr. Napolitano recalled.
The European members of the Democratici di sinistra in fact played a key role - like the French Socialist - in the process that led to the presentation of the drat manifesto in Brussels this week, and that began by initial free and informal discussions in July of last year. The meeting of the Bureau of the Socialist Group, in Verviers at the beginning of the year, on the invitation of Belgian Socialist Claude Desama, was an important step in the process, and the draft manifesto is now open to be signed by all members of the Group. Its initiators intend being present with this draft at the Congress of the Party of European Socialists in Berlin in May (without for that asking Congress to ratify it), and their text will be a contribution to the wide-ranging public debate opening next week on Europe's future.
As the members of Democratici di sinistra, Pasqualina Napoletano, Fiorella Ghilardotti and Bruno Trentin remarked to the press (as did German Social-democrat Klaus Haensch), this initiative of deepening European integration is the fruit of an original approach, as it does not stem from one single person (like, for example, the speech by Joschka Fischer in Berlin last spring), but, for the first time, has galvanized European politicians from almost all the countries of the European Union (at this stage, twelve out of the fifteen).