Vienna, 29/05/2006 (Agence Europe) - Cloistered for two days over the weekend (27 and 28 May) at Klosterneuburg Abbey on the outskirts of Vienna, the twenty-seven European or foreign ministers of the EU25 plus Romania and Bulgaria were joined by EU High Representative Javier Solana and the President of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso, to prepare for the June European Council. The Abbey was founded in 1114 by a nobleman, Margrave Leopold III, and has one of the biggest private libraries in Europe and a famous vineyard. Several participants say the Austrian Presidency managed to achieve an excellent atmosphere. The complex nature of the crisis following the outright rejection of the draft constitution by two founding Member States, France and the Netherlands, led German minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier to say this was the deepest crisis the EU had ever been in, which cannot be resolved in two days of talks by politicians debating how to best manage the crisis with the common aim of saving the substance of the rejected constitutional treaty.
On Sunday, Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik said the clouds were lifting at the start of a press conference after the summit. She summarised debate by saying that there had not been an announcement that the treaty was dead but politicians were nowhere near finding a final solution. She said plenty more time and patience would be required, adding that the ministers had agreed that the reflection period would have to be extended and could be put to use by coming up with concrete results, as suggested by the European Commission, to improve the EU's image as far as ordinary people are concerned. The German minister stressed the need for the EU to win back ordinary people's confidence. How long should the debate continue? Ursula Plassnik said nobody had mentioned a deadline but in 2009, a new European Commission will come to power and a new European Parliament will be elected.
The President of the European Commission said consensus was emerging over the idea of demonstrating the value-added of the EU to citizens. Jose Manuel Barroso said the ministers backed a twin track approach of keeping the objective of an institutional settlement and providing concrete solutions in areas where citizens are demanding solutions. He gave the example of immigration, referring to the recent problem faced by the Spanish authorities in the Canary Islands. Barroso said immigration was an EU problem requiring EU solutions both in terms of legal and illegal immigration, adding that there had been a degree of consensus over concrete measures mooted by the European Commission and France, including the need to boost coherence and the effectiveness of the EU's activity abroad. Application of Article 42 is raising constitutional problems in Germany in the field of justice and home affairs. Germany reported that it is having problems retreating after bringing its legislation into line with the draft constitution.
Asked about the name of the treaty, the Austrian foreign minister said the most important issue was the substance. Several other ministers made similar noises on arrival at Klosterneuburg which appears to indicate that they are all aware of the complex nature of the problem, requiring open-mindedness to save the most important parts. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said concepts should not be given priority and that Germany had lived with a 'fundamental law' for 50 years that worked very well. Jose Manuel Barroso said that while the ministers hadn't really discussed the name of the treaty, the issue would come up in the future. He said the European Commission backed the idea of a 'constitution' because it translated the desire to 'live together'.
Ministers also discussed enlargement. A reflection process will be held in the next few months based on French suggestions and a report by the European Commission in order to define 'absorption capacities' and what is meant by that. The ministers agreed to continue to take a common approach to the question of Montenegro's independence and recognition of Montenegro by the EU in the future. They also discussed the transitional aid measures for the Palestinians and the Iran nuclear dossier, on which they looked at finalising a genuinely attractive offer that makes Iran face its responsibilities. Debate on how to improve disaster response mechanisms for dealing with natural disasters demonstrated that both the European Commission and the Member States were very 'prudent'. Some Member States prefer to look at improving national measures, while others fear the creation of an over-complex EU mechanism.