Brussels, 09/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - In the context of the reflection now launched on Europe's post-Nice future, Alain Lamassoure (French, EDF), who is preparing a report to come out in the coming months on the distribution of competencies in the EU, set out his ideas before the EP's Committee on Constitutional Affairs, noting that "good minds" claim that this "cannot be achieved". Lamassoure recalls that it is foremost a question of a "political demand" by the German Laneder and other "constitutional" regions (Belgium, Spain), taken on board in Nice", and that, since its definition in the Maastricht Treaty, "no concrete translation has been provided for the principle of subsidiarity", and that, therefore, there is a "quarrel" to settle. Can a Union of "three times twelve claim to be able to deal in 2015 with as many problems - and the same problems - as the Community of twelve thirty years before?", asks the rapporteur, noting that the principle of subsidiarity has "led many political bodies to return many decisions to a level closer to the citizens". And he cites "Spain, a little bit France, a little bit Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom - Portugal being the only exception".
Contrary to what is said, there already is a distribution of competencies in the treaties, but it suffers from many flaws, Lamassoure remarks, noting that the articles are scattered in the treaties, that they have not been drawn up in a homogenous manner (and "the length of the texts is often inversely proportional to the importance of the power exercised: 5 full pages and 14 articles for legal cooperation alone, as against 2 articles for competition policy"), and, especially, the fact that they do not present the current Community competencies as such, but "as modalities, very varied, moreover, of cooperaion between States". This, according to the former French Minister for European affairs, may be explained by the "very spirit of the negotiators" of the treaties who, representing the States, "do not really consider transferring powers to another entity, but of divers ways of exercising certain powers together", which means that "the presentation of competencies themselves is intergovernmental". As for the importance the EP has to attribute to this exercise, Mr. Lamassoure states in particular (referring to the work on the simplification of the treaties already accomplished by the European University Institute of Florence) that "it is not only a question of "doing a Florence", but of adopting the constitutional approach, the only one compatible with the timetable for accession". Should this approach be taken on board, says Lamassoure, "the consequences of aspirations to be taken into account will have to be drawn, and thus hearings organised". We shall have to listen to the Committee of the Regions, the Conference of the Laender, and the "new Eastern partners will also have their word to say" and their catalogue "will have to be compared to ours", he said. And, acknowledging that the "centre of citizens' interests are not the same as governments'", he described the concrete problems to come as follows: with the single area, the free movement of people, and soon the euro, in Europe people "buy goods, borrow or lend, meet, like or love each other, have children, separate, associate, argue…All these relations come under private law, therefore, today, international bilateral conventions. As long as they only concerned a hundred or so people, they could be dealt with diplomatically (…) But as soon as millions of people are concerned, how not to seek common solutions, thus Community-wide, to simplify the lives of the interested parties? Civil law will become an immense field of action for the Union's legislators".