Strasbourg, 04/05/2004 (Agence Europe) - Twenty years after the Spinelli draft Treaty was adopted, three days after the enlargement which put an end to the divisions of Europe, which were the war's final heirloom, the European Parliament has paid tribute to two Europeans who worked to make war in Europe a thing of the past: Jean Monnet and Altiero Spinelli. Two men with different outlooks, but united by a common vision, the speakers declared, starting with the President of the Parliament, Pat Cox, who called upon his contemporaries to draw inspiration from this vision. Their ability to see a reconciliation instrument in the European project makes Monnet's and Spinelli's generation a "unique generation", said Pat Cox. He then called upon the Foreign Ministers of the twenty-five to agree on the text of a formal declaration confirming their intentions to bring closure to the work on the Constitutional Treaty. I feel that this declaration is the "least" we can offer the people, and we want it before the elections, concluded the President of the Parliament.
The President of the Council, Dick Roche, spoke mainly of Monnet and Spinelli as men: the first working "quietly, behind the scenes, using his legendary international networking", the second much more in the public eye, notably in his vigorous opposition to fascism. But a "vital similarity" brought them together: they were both men of action. Each in his own way, and Dick Roche quoted François Duchêne, Jean Monnet's biographer, who wrote that the secret lay in a "combination of creative and critical faculties. He appealed to the romantic in people through the idealism of his goals, and to the expert in them through the realism of his means". Spinelli thought that without a "radical positive change", the future of Europe was in danger, and regretted that after 1947, the "ideal Europe (...) constitutes only part of the geographical area of Europe". This 1 May, said Dick Roche, an "extraordinary historical reversal" was sealed by the accession of ten countries to the EU, and this enlargement is "a tribute to the potency of a dream", and to the courage of the people who achieved this revolution "Our continent is old, but our Union is young", said the Irish President on 1 May: "new ambitions" must be fulfilled, concluded Dick Roche, who believes that an "early" agreement on the Constitution would be the best way of commemorating Jean Monnet Altiero Spinelli.
The "step by step" policy which was dear to Jean Monnet has stood the test, and the process of enlargement is an excellent example of this, said Loyola de Palacio, Vice-President of the European Commission. Some of Altiero Spinelli's ideas can be found in texts which were adopted later, in Maastricht (citizenship, subsidiarity), Amsterdam (option of penalties in case of serious and persistent violation of fundamental rights), and in the Convention's text (primacy of Community law). Ms Palacio referred to article 82 of the Spinelli draft, which called for governments to meet immediately after ratification, to decide which procedures to follow for countries which had and had not ratified. Spinelli the visionary and Monnet the pragmatist complemented each other perfectly, said Ms de Palacio: maybe this synthesis is what is missing now.
The President of the Constitutional Committee, Giorgio Napolitano (whose indefatigable work and commitment President Cox praised), pointed out, in this last speech to the European Parliament, that Spinelli and Monnet were not government men, that they signed no Treaties, but were "great prophets and builders". Monnet based his strategy on the integration of production, as part of a "functionalist" approach, whereas Spinelli's approach was "constituent", but the direction was the same. Napolitano quoted Spinelli, who, after the failure of the European Defence Community in 1955, wrote "Monnet and I pull the wagon, like stubborn mules (...) but despite all this scepticism, it is we who will win". Now, although the draft Constitution is not perfect, it represents a "meeting point which has been laboriously reached": it could be improved, but whatever happens, it must not be undermined. In adopting it, tribute will be paid to Altiero Spinelli and Jean Monnet in the facts, without rhetoric.
When I chaired the EP's delegation to the Convention, I still had the Spinelli draft of 1984 by my side, and I asked myself, "What would Spinelli say?", said Inigo Mendez de Vigo (Partido Popular). The man, the citizen, were always at the centre of Spinelli's thoughts, he stressed, welcoming enlargement, which sanctions the end of nationalism and walls.
British Labour MEP Dick Corbett remembers his work while he was still a young Parliament official, with Spinelli. Yes, he insists, with great ambitions but knowing how to make compromises, to build consensus, and who was ready to share credit for his project. And who, he added, held good when Council and Commission (Leo Tindemans and Gaston Thorn) told him "don't do it", "do not touch the treaties". Finding he was right were the Parliament and also, during the vote on 14 February 1984, 79% of British Conservatives, Mr Corbett recalled. Belgian Liberal Willy de Clercq, who is to leave the Parliament after seventeen years in office, criticises those who claim that, by following Monnet and Spinelli, "one is investing in a dream". "What's wrong with that?" Mr de Clercq exclaimed, citing enlargement as an example of a dream come true. What Spinelli said twenty years ago remains true today, was the opinion of Austrian Green member Johannes Voggenhubber, with quotations to support this (including quotes concerning Spinelli's efforts to persuade the Parliament not to send the draft 1984 treaty to Council but to the national parliaments). The great battle will now be that of ratification, Gerard Collins (Fianna Fail) took up, saying one should not underestimate the magnitude of the task. The president of the Europe of Democracies and Diversities Group, Jens-Peter Bonde of Denmark, paid tribute to the political consistency of AltieroSpinelli, and cited the founder of Agence Europe, Emanuele Gazzo, who "taught me that federalism does not mean centralism, but an idea of democracy over and beyond the national ideal". However, Mr Bonde concluded, he prefers the Danish Constitution to the European Constitution.
The European Union is the best example of a solution to conflict in the history of the world, John Hume said when it was his turn, and the principles on which it is founded have inspired the peace process in Northern Ireland. Mr Hume put a proposal forward: the creation, in the new Commission, of a post of "Commissioner for peace and reconciliation", who could export not weapons but Union philosophy to conflict areas.