Brussels, 28/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - British Liberal-Democrat Andrew Duff MEP, member of the European Convention, has presented the Convention with his second contribution of proposals for three articles for the future Treaty. These concern the following articles:
Article 3, on citizenship, which states that: 1. Nationals of Member States are also citizens of the EU. 2. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU is established as a "Protocol to this Constitution". It is binding upon the institutions and agencies of the Union in its entirety, and upon Member states and political authorities within them when and in so far as they implement Union law and policy. 3. A citizen directly affected by an act of the Union may institute proceedings before the Court of Justice. 4. An Ombudsman shall be appointed by the European Parliament. "Naturally, a Federal Union needs a Bill of Rights in order to guarantee that the interests of the citizen will not be abused by the central institutions (…). To this end, the Charter can probably be enshrined as part of the basic law of the Union more or less as it stands, with certain modifications only in its Preamble and to the Horizontal Articles 51-54", says Duff, for whom the incorporation of the Charter in the Treaty demands direct access to the European Court of Justice for citizens.
Article 6, on the Acts of the Union, which states in particular that: 1. The EU shall have legal personality in international law. 2. The EU shall act by of: organic law, regulation, directive, joint action, decision, opinion, code of conduct, inter-institutional agreement. 3. All acts shall be decided jointly by the Parliament and Council on a proposal of the Commission (it is important , states Mr. Duffy, that all decisions as to the choice of instrument must be taken jointly by the Council and Parliament). This is a fairly minimalist hierarchy of norms to which all institutions, not excluding the European Council, would have to conform", Duff comments.
Article 7, on financing the Union, that states that: 1. The EU shall establish its own financial regime within expenditure limits expressed as a defined percentage of the Union's GDP. 2. It shall establish system of own revenue resources which may include the levying of taxes and duties. 3. It shall lay down provisions for a system of financial control. 4. The financial regime will take the form of Organic Law.