Brussels, 03/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - On Friday, the European Convention decided to hold two additional informal sessions to continue discussing the first 16 draft articles presented by the Praesidium, along with Convention Members' amendments.
The plenary of 17/18 March will focus on Articles 24 to 33 concerning the EU's resources for exercising its competences (see Europe of 1 March, p.3, on the unveiling of the draft articles by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing).
During the debate on the EU's competences on Friday, Vice-Chairman of the Convention Giuliano Amato admitted that the discussion between "shared" competences and "domains of support action" might be problematic, and added that in the Praesidium's draft, the coordination of economic policies and the foreign and security policy (which will be discussed at a later date) were dealt with in separate articles (13 and 14) since these areas do not involve legislation.
In terms of coordinating economic policies (Article 13), Commissioner Michel Barnier said the title of the article was a retreat on existing texts mentioning "economic policy". Many Convention Members made the same point about the social dimension.
The debate focussed on the flexibility clause in Article 16 which (like the former Article 308) makes it possible to give the EU, where appropriate, competencies that the Treaty does not attribute. The Praesidium proposes that unanimous voting be required for this, and various Convention Members agreed, like the German Social Democrat Klaus Hänsch. Others called for qualified majority voting, like Commissioner Michel Barnier and the Italian government representative Valdo Spini. MEPs Hanja Maij-Weggen and Carlos Carnero Gonzalez wanted the clause to be subject to a codecision procedure, while the representatives of the Austrian parliament and government Caspar Einem and Hannes Fernleitner called for the Committee of the Regions and the Economic and Social Committee to also be involved. The Bundestag representative Jürgen Meyer and MEP Alain Lamassoure wanted it to be possible to use the clause to restore competences to Member States.
The debate tended to confirm disagreement between very detailed supporters of lists of competencies and supporters of a more flexible approach. British Tory David Heathcoat Amory, representative of Parliament, saw the draft Praesidium articles as running the risk of giving the EU new powers. Commissioner Michel Barnier admitted he would have preferred a more political classification closer to what the European Union actually is. MEP Andrew Duff said the proposed classification was over-rigid. The representative of the French government, Pascale Andreani, also called for greater flexibility, echoed by MEPs Anne Van Lancker and Neil McCormick. Some Convention Members want changes to the vocabulary. MEP Alain Lamassoure, for example, and the representative of the Spanish parliament Josep Borrel Fontelles suggest speaking of "own competences" rather than "exclusive competences", and "complementary competences" rather than "support action".
With regard to exclusive competences, some Convention Members pointed out some gaps. MEP Hanja Maij-Weggen said the budget and Structural Funds should be added, while MEP Carlos Carnero Gonzalez mentioned the foreign and security policy ("necessarily common"), and the area of freedom, justice and security ("necessarily European"). Alain Lamassoure said it was a legal and historical error to put the internal market under both exclusive and shared competences, as the Praesidium had done. But we're not here to unpick the Community acquis, warned Michel Barnier, over moving some of the EU's competences to shared competences.
Concerning shared competences, Michel Barnier wanted the taxation element of the internal market to be added. Pervenche Beres, MEP wanted services of general interest and territorial cohesion to be added, Carlos Carnero Gonzalez employment, equality between men and women and the prevention of catastrophes, and Hanja Maij-Weggen immigration. The representatives of the Swedish and Irish governments, Lena Hjelm-Wallen and Dirck Roche, called for public health to be removed and transferred to "support action".
The Praesidium incorporated energy under shared competences, but MEP Maria Verger wandered what would be done with the Euratom Treaty. The Chairman of the Convention said the Convention Secretariat would look at the question to see whether the Euratom Treaty would have to be changed if it proved incompatible with the future Constitutional Treaty.