Brussels, 05/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - In his speech to the congress of the European People's Party, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing stressed the relevance of the Laeken Declaration to point out the importance of giving Europe its Constitution. The former President of the Convention clearly no longer believes that the Constitution can be approved before the European elections.
"If the EPP wants to make Europe more popular, it must act to give it a Constitution", said president Giscard d'Estaing in Brussels on Thursday, stressing that the European Council of Brussels in December 2003 was "a failure of the method", even without the rejection of the Constitution. Criticism made of the draft reflect national concerns on certain points, he stressed, regretting the fact that the European Council had not said that "over 80% of our proposals have not been challenged". He listed many generally accepted steps forward: the principle e of a Constitution, the merger of all our Treaties, the single legal identity, the simplification of the instruments, the clarification of the Union's objectives, the definition of competencies, the inclusion of the Charter, the political control of subsidiarity by national parliaments, the permanent President o the European Council, the Foreign Minister, increased powers for the European Parliament. Having reeled off the list, Mr Giscard d'Estaing came back to qualified majority and the composition of the Commission. "Double majority is the only alternative to the creation of a second chamber", he said, acknowledging that this is a "difficult subject which has become almost an obsession for some". He envisaged that the entry into force, planned for 2009 by the Convention, may not be automatic, the Council keeping the option of postponing it by two or three years, for instance. He feels that this is a "problem which can be resolved (...) in 2004". On the composition of the Commission, Mr Giscard d'Estaing hoped to further "European interest, which calls for a reduced Commission", to be an "effective and respected" institution. He concluded by calling upon the EPP to be "the European party to get the Constitution adopted" and which will asked the citizens, at the forthcoming European elections, to show their willingness to give Europe a Constitution.