Brussels, 11/02/2004 (Agence Europe) - Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the European Parliament's adoption of the draft European Constitution presented by Altiero Spinelli on 14 February, the President of the Republic of Italy, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, has written to Giorgio Napolitano, chairman of the Constitutional Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, to state that this anniversary is a reminder of "the birth of an idea that is waiting to be fulfilled today with the adoption of the new Constitutional Treaty of the Union". (For the debate and vote on the Spinelli draft, which was adopted by an absolute majority, see EUROPE of 15 February 1984, pages 3 and 5, and of 16 February, pages 3 to 5). The crisis caused in the early 1980s by differences of opinion on the Community budget, "coinciding with a period of disenchantment with the European Union", became the opportunity for recovery and "clear-sighted vision", says Mr Ciampi, noting that the Altiero Spinelli initiative had contributed decisively to fundamental developments in European integration: the Single Act, leading to the completion of the European Single Market, and the Maastricht Treaty, which created monetary Union, "a symbol and pillar of integration".
"14 February 1984 is the true starting date of Europe's constituent process now urgently awaiting completion", said President Ciampi, who recognises in the draft Constitution of the European Convention "the features of clarity, consistency and democratic transparency" which inspired Altiero Spinelli. The Convention's text, with "a balanced and enhanced institutional structure of the Union, incorporates the Charter of Fundamental Rights, gives the Union an international legal personality. All this is fully coherent with the political objective underlying the plan for European unification from the outset", wrote Mr Ciampi, underling the fact that Europe must be capable of "keeping abreast of the times, against a rapidly changing international background". He believes that "the evidence is found in the obstacles that are hampering Europe's competitiveness, in the problems connected with the defence of Europe's social model, and in the complexity of a world order which requires Europe to play its role as a fully-fledged partner. Such problems must be addressed with authority and without fear for the future. We need therefore strong institutions, underpinned by a jointly political will". Mr Ciampi concluded with words of encouragement: "2003 was the year of incompleteness and division: 2004 must be the year in which we recover our serenity and our capacity jointly to complete the construction of Europe".