Ronda, 20/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - In Ronda, Andalusia, the European Parliament is trying to give the European Constitutional Treaty its second wind. The ratification process for the treaty is continuing without anybody really knowing what lessons can be drawn from the reflection period decided upon by the Heads of State and Government at the last European Council. Organising these "summer universities" less than two months after the text was rejected in the successive French and Dutch referendums, the European Parliament is asking questions about the prospects for European integration, which is currently at deadlock, in the words of its president, Josep Borrell, who is heading up the work. For the whole week, members of the European Parliament, former members of the Convention and representatives of the world of academia will speak to students from the University of Málaga to comment on the recent failures, be they on the Constitution or the financial perspectives, and look at possible outcomes. If hypothetical political goodwill could save the treaty, Europe needs genuine awareness in the longer term in order to exist in the hearts of its citizens, said French Socialist Olivier Duhamel and British liberal Democrat Graham Watson on Monday. The next day, Spanish Christian Democrat Inigo Mendez de Vigo made 2009 a cut-off date to resolve the issue of the Constitutional Treaty.
Criticising the absence of any debate during the campaign in France, Mr Duhamel lays the responsibility for this at the door equally of the proponents of the no-vote, who, with their "accomplished instrumentalisation of Europe", filled the French full of illusions, and to the partisans of the yes, who were "absent from the campaign", and apportioned blame also to Europe's own shortcomings. In the view of the former Convention member, this shows a "total ignorance of Europe" in the media and in politics in France, which opened up a breach and "legitimised a no-vote to Europe for people of good faith". Given such a gulf, the arguments of ATAC and others aimed mainly, he said, to try to "gain some market share" to make "the company prosper" and occupy some space. He added that the demobilised, leaderless yes camp, devoid of any strategy, might even think itself lucky to have ended up with 45% of the vote.
Giving a reason for hope or a trompe l'oeil victory, an overall count of the votes made in the four referendums, combined with the success of the Parliamentary ratifications, in any case shows "great enthusiasm on the part of the majority of the Member States and, in countries where the citizens voted, on the part of the majority of the citizens". However, added Mr Duhamel, in order to "save the treaty", we need political goodwill and a strategy for the European leaders, both of which elements are missing and this scenario can therefore be ruled out. All that remains to be done, therefore, is to salvage as much as possible or bury the text, in the knowledge that the most likely outcome will be to see the text remain "deep frozen", with the risk that it will go "past its sell-by date". Any new impulse will take time, but will lead to a Europe with "more intensive, stirring, avant-garde, inclusive and non-exclusive fields of integration", said Mr Duhamel.
This objective will require "a change in perspective on the part of the citizens" and an adjustment on the part of the EU to today's challenges, added the president of the ALDE group in the Parliament, Graham Watson, who hopes that there will be "the political courage needed to do this" at a moment when the EU is lacking leadership. "If they attack Brussels from Monday to Saturday, they cannot expect people to turn out to vote on Sunday", he stressed, also criticising the lack of understanding of Europe on the part of the citizens. He advocated an awareness-raising effort which could take the form of a Parliamentary television channel, the regular broadcasting of the most important debates, or "wise men and women" tasked with travelling across the EU (he referred to Costas Simitis, Pat Cox and Loyola de Palacio). With a grass roots approach, Mr Duhamel pleaded for training programmes for people with influence on public opinion, such as teachers and journalists. Noting Tony Blair's pledge before the European Parliament in favour of political Europe, Mr Watson also stressed the importance of EU political responses to questions such as migration, the environment and international organised crime, which "require a supranational response". If the political Europe Mr Blair wants can be understood in the sense of the constitutional treaty, he is quite right to support this objective, said Mr Borrell, who said that he knows no other Europe than that of the treaty. In a critical situation, the debates which are opening must allow things to be clarified, particularly in view of the challenges of globalisation and changes to the European model, he said, adding however that it would be "difficult" to reach agreement on the financial perspectives before next March.
Inigo Mendez de Vigo (EPP-ED, Spain), who chaired the delegation of the European Parliament to the Convention, also criticised the lack of common strategy of the Heads of Government after the Intergovernmental Conference, with each making their own national calculations for ratification. The Constitution is neither dead nor buried, "it is there", he said on Tuesday, referring to the forthcoming elections in France and the Netherlands to move things along, because "it will not be possible with Chirac". As Josep Borrell made clear, who said the day before that the French presidential elections would be polarised most of all on Europe, Mr Mendez de Vigo voiced his hopes that by then, the candidates for the French presidency would state their intentions for the European Constitution. In the meantime we must remedy for the shortcomings in the text, but "there will be no re-negotiation between the partisans of the yes and those of the no" after the period of reflection, he warned, stating that "we might be able to put the Constitution back on the table in 2008". If we have to vote again on an amended version of the Constitution, the details and parties concerned by a revision of the text will remain vague, in his view. Mr Mendez de Vigo referred to the "all-important" date of 2009, when part of the constitutional treaty should theoretically enter into force and well in the next EP elections will take place in June, with which a new popular vote could coincide. All of the Member States could thus be involved in this joint date, including those which have already taken position in favour of ratification.