Brussels, 15/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - During a meeting with the president of the Council, Nicolas Schmit (EUROPE 8968), a majority of the EP constitutional committee supported the idea of suspending the ratification process for the European Constitution in order to allow a wide-ranging European debate without this interruption having to mean that the process is at an end, a press release states. Committee Chairman Jo Leinen thus summed up the main positions, saying: - some MEPs suggest that a new Convention be convened while others believe there should be a debate conducted by the national parliaments, with the EP and the civil society; - others are for concrete action for growth and employment rather than re-writing the Constitution; - and some want a complete stop to ratifications. According to the press release, Mr Schmit agrees there should be a suspension of the ratification process to give time for reflection but without giving the impression that the Constitution has been buried. According to the Luxembourg minister for European Affairs, the debate should be headed by the European Parliament, with clear deadlines.
Jo Leinen, for his part, called on the European Council to agree on a mandate and an instrument for a European-wide debate. In his view, one possibility would be to convene a European Assembly of EU Parliaments (EP and national), to meet in the form of an “Assizes” with the participation of the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee and the Civil Society, to discuss the economic crisis and employment, democracy and transparency, the limits of later enlargements and the role of Europe in a globalised world. The German Social Democrat suggests that the Assembly should begin its work in September 2005 and complete it one year later with a series of recommendations to the European Council.