Brussels, 15/06/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, during the traditional summit of the European People's Party (EPP) presided by Wilfried Martens prior to the European Council, Chancellor Schüssel told the press he was quite “optimistic” about the European Constitution. “Take the situation one year ago: there was major division, almost depression. Today, there are reasons for greater optimism: a budget for the next seven years, a directive on services (…). Under German EU Presidency, during the first half of 2007, the process will go on and may be complete during the second half of 2008” (Ed.: under French Presidency), he said. Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker does not expect any “real discussion on substance” at the European Council, saying: “We shall seek to agree on procedure. I do not know whether we shall manage to set a date for fixing the final elements of the Constitution”. He went on to add: “I want the United Kingdom to be part of it” (i.e. by ratifying the Constitution). Antonio Lopez, EPP General Secretary, noted that this was the party's first summit after that in Rome ”when we pledged to give the Constitution fresh impetus”. “The final objective is to pursue the ratification process”, he said, pointing out that the leaders of the EPP family had discussed the ideas expounded by Chanceller Schüssel and the president of the EPP-ED Group at the European Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering (who suggests the reflection period should be extended and, until the June 2007 Summit, a period of analysis should be opened during which it would be appropriate to examine all the political and economic consequences arising from the fact that there is no Constitution, as requested by the Parliament resolution (see EUROPE 9211). The former European Commissioner and former French Foreign Minister, Michel Barnier, said for his part: “What is needed most urgently is discussion. First and foremost in France. We must prepare a new interinstitutional initiative. We must use the text of the Constitution as a reference. The text is made up of many useful elements (…) for making the EU move forward. Let us push Europe forward”.
On the subject of enlargement, Wolfgang Schüssel repeated that, so far, “it has been a success”. He sounded a note of caution, however, regarding future enlargement, saying: “We need some limits, a specific timetable. There will never again be accession by groups of countries. (…) Account must be taken of the absorption capacity, which must be clarified to begin with: for example: who pays for enlargement?” “If we do not achieve the substance of the Constitution, it will be very difficult to think of future enlargements”, Mr Pöttering put in. (The resolution adopted on Wednesday by the EP invites the European Council this week to confirm its commitment in favour of EU membership for Romania and Bulgaria (…) on 1 January 2007, if they are ready to join. It also calls for the specialised assistance provided by Member States especially in the field of justice and home affairs to be enhanced over coming months).
In a press release, Wilfried Martens, states that the process for ratification of the Constitution should end by 2009. “We don't want this project to fail”, he said. In parallel, he calls for the Commission's Plan D to be “carried forward actively” and suggests, for the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, a declaration showing that, “for us, the European Union is not a project of the past but absolutely indispensable for a prosperous future of all Europeans”. The EPP also stresses that EU Council deliberations should be opened to the public.
British Conservative Party leader David Cameron was invited to Meise but did not attend (Ed.: it is a known fact that he had promised to take the Tories out of the EPP-ED Group at the European Parliament).
Silvio Berlusconi, who attended in his capacity as president of Forza Italia, repeated that he had lost the general elections in Italy by just 24,000 votes, and that there had been irregularities in the vote-counting.