Brussels, 02/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - Should the European Commission play a bigger role in the debate over the fate of the European Constitution? Yes, as should the European Parliament, argues the President of Poland, Aleksander Kwasniewski, in an interview with German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung published on 2 September. He says he can only see one solution - voting on the European Constitution on the same day in each Member State. Asked whether it should be a referendum, the Polish President said it should, even in countries that have already rejected the Constitution in a referendum. He said that after the type of debate he hoped to see, the result of a referendum could well be positive. Kwasniewski said that when he read what Tony Blair told the European Parliament, he hoped that during their Presidency, the British would give the necessary spurt of energy during their Presidency, but when he saw the list of priorities - eleven of them, meaning that none of them is really important - and time is passing, scepticism is growing. Nothing has happened for months and this is bad, he said, as is the fact of announcing in Brussels that a year was being set aside to reflect and debate but then the debate doesn't actually take place.
On the failure of the June 2005 Summit on the Financial Perspectives, the Polish President described the initiative by Poland and other new Member States to attempt to save the Luxembourg Presidency's compromise deal, saying it was a last resort, engineered by Polish prime minister Belka. Reactions to the initiative revealed that it was not a question of money, but a political leadership battle between France and the UK.
Asked about the Franco-German 'engine', the Polish President said it would be boosted in the future. There was also the Weimar Triangle (France, Germany and Poland) which could no doubt contribute in the future to stepping up integration in some areas. But the United Kingdom has to be added to this cooperation, said Kwasniewski, because we do not want a hard core of states, a two-speed Europe.
On future enlargements of the EU, Kwasniewski said that it was clear that geographically the Balkans are part of Europe, as is Ukraine and a small part of Turkey. Russia is a Euro-Asian country. Geographical answers saw a lot and yet mean nothing at the same time. Historically, Europe is a multi-cultural continent. Defining Europe as uniquely Christian is not workable. Europe is an area of values, added the Polish President, noting that since the Orange Revolution, the question of whether Ukraine is part of this area is no longer being asked. It's similar in the Balkans for Croats, Macedonians and, in the future, Serbs, Montenegrins and Albanians too. Turkey is still an open question in terms of intellect, politics and society since it is, after all, a Muslim country. Turkey joining the European Union would make a lasting change to the European concept, he said.