Strasbourg, 23/10/2002 (Agence Europe) - Speaking to reporters in Strasbourg on Monday evening, the President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox, said he was "extremely pleased" with the outcome of the second Irish referendum on the Nice Treaty, that he described as a "massive endorsement" of enlargement (see yesterday's Europe, pp 4-5). He refused to comment on the fact that only the Irish had been given the chance to say "Yes" or "No" to the Treaty, but added that the Convention may wish to discuss this. (On the fringes of the Convention there have already been suggestions that amendments to the Treaty should in the future be ratified by referendums, Ed.) The President of the Liberal group, Graham Watson, hailed the "immense energy of the yes campaigners," without whom "this referendum could have failed". He said "the relatively low turnout" (around 50%) "suggests that much more needs to be done to inspire people anew with the European ideal".
Irish MEP Dana Scallon (EPP) said "I am pro-Europe and pro-enlargement but I am deeply concerned at the rapid development of the road to a political and constitutional Europe that will override the Irish constitution and Irish laws… The issue of an EU Constitution was sidelines throughout the Nice campaign, but it is time for openness and truth from political leaders."
The same concern was expressed by Jens-Peter Bonde, President of the EDD group, who expected "the Nice Treaty (to) prove to be the shortest lived Treaty in the history of the Union." He explained that a draft outlining the architecture of the first European Constitution would be unveiled on 28 October by Convention President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing (see Europe of 19 October, p.4). Bonde said VGE would be proposing changes such as "establishing a congress to nominate a President of Europe, who will also serve as president of the European Council," going on to argue that the "most troublesome aspect of Giscard's proposal is… that countries that do not want to accept the text (draft EU constitution) will be excluded from "United Europe"". The standing civil society forum, for example, has called for the first Constitution to be adopted even if there is not unanimous agreement over it (see Europe of 17 October, p.5).
Jens-Peter Bonde has published a "reader friendly edition of the Nice Treaty" that he describes as "consolidated" and "politically neutral". Everything new has been marked in bold, important words are underlined and deleted parts have been written in italic and strikethrough, while text in blue in the margins explains the articles. (Nice Treaty - The readerfriendly edition. Jens-Peter Bonde. Jp@bonde.dk or http://www.bonde.com EUobserver.com http://www.eubookshop.com ISBN 87-87692-77-5.)