Athens, 01/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - Speaking at a seminar early July on "the Future of Europe and Greece" organised by the Hellenic Centre for European Studies (EKEM), Greek Prime Minister Costas Simitis pleaded in favour of a European Union moving along the lines of a political Union (see EUROPE of 14 July, p.). "It is almost certain that present-day policy reality, even though some institutional solutions were given at Nice, will further strengthen centrifugal forces in a Union of 27 or more Member States (….) We must move forward. This is the only option", said Simitis, noting that at Nice, "we did not speak about how to respond to the need for a new political driving force, a new locomotive, which, in tomorrow's enlarged Union, will be needed more than ever". In the part of his speech devoted to institutional issues, Costas Simitis considered that it was "vital" to avoid, in an enlarged Europe, "sliding back to the lowest common denominator of political will" and to "prevent the last ship of the convoy from determining the overall pace".
According to the Greek Prime Minister, in future they must, therefore, design a system capable of "evolving flexibly, respecting the dynamic of societies (…), respecting those who want to move ahead in a certain sector, but also those who are hesitant or not yet able". According to him, this means: - Europe with a "differentiated system of integration" in which all would fully participate in the "basic integration mechanisms" but allowing those so ready to "concede a larger share of the sovereign choices to the integration project to proceed to more advanced stages of deepened integration"; - movement towards a political Union. Here Simitis states that "the model for the final transformation of the European Union that we believe that it serves our major political objectives is the federal model based on the Community system and the Community method of integration". This system "permits the building of a European sovereignty in order to regain collectively parts of the sovereignty that we are losing individually", he said, considering that "the coalition of those who can and want a federal model can be the answer to the need for a strong political driving force for the future of Europe".
In concrete terms, Mr. Simitis considers that: - the Council of Minister could develop along the lines of a second legislative chamber "articulating the interest of the Member States" whereas the European Council "must remain the supreme political body of the EU"; - the role of the European Parliament and the status of European political parties must be strengthened, as well as the possibility of national parliaments influencing the European integration process; - the development of policies and competencies of the EU calls for "the definition of clear principles for exercising them", but "it would be a grave mistake to attempt to draw up a catalogue of competencies as a means of delimiting these competencies". The Union must remain a flexible system of "sharing powers", Simitis considers, fearing that a strict distribution of competencies would lead to the re-nationalisation of policies or even to "the freezing of the integration process"; - so as to make citizens "active parties to the process of integration (…) Europe needs a Constitution".
Mr. Simitis had begun by saying that the debate on the future of Europe had not to be limited solely to issues of "institutions and procedures", and that "the content of integration must be first on the agenda of this debate". "We must openly discuss the European identity, the role of the Union and its responsibilities in the world", he stressed, considering in particular that the "new equilibrium following the setting up of the monetary Union and the single currency requires the attainment of new objectives, including": - the strengthening of "redistributive policies"; - the updating and reinforcement of the European social model, especially by including in the Treaties special provisions for employment, combating poverty and marginalisation, as well as stronger provisions for education as means of overcoming social isolation, and for health; - reinforcing co-ordination and macroeconomic management, as intervention by the European Central Bank "cannot replace the fundamental and general orientations of common policy that are the flesh and blood of economic policy", nor "a wider political vision and authority". In this context, Mr. Simitis also came down in favour of a greater role for the EU regarding taxation; - "adequate, stable and predictable financial resources", which means discussing again the overall volume and manner of financing the Union's budget; - confronting the daily problems and security of the Union's citizens (environment, food safety, internal security, immigration…); - the development of a genuine common foreign policy, and a common European defence policy and common defence, which would operate in a complementary manner to NATO, by "gradually taking on the character of a collective security system based on the principles of solidarity and mutual assistance" - inclusion the Charter of Fundamental Rights "in the Union's institutional texts, as legally binding text", as this Charter, "confirms the identity and political culture of the Union in a wider international system".