Brussels, 17/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - In a speech on “Europe's Second Chance”, delivered at the European University Institute in Florence on 25 October, Italian foreign minister Massimo D'Alema said that, to take advantage of this second chance after the constitutional crisis, Europe will have to respect the “old rule, that deepening and enlargement must go hand in hand”. At the same time, he pointed out that it would be a mistake to conclude from the constitutional crisis that any new enlargement must be stopped. On the contrary, “the strategic advantages of new enlargement constitute further incentive to end the constitutional stalemate”. In both areas - deepening and enlargement - Europe needed “points of arrival, at least in the transitional phase”, Mr D'Alema said, adding , “A fundamental Treaty and external borders would give the general enlarged European structure clarity and certainty, leaving further progress to increased flexibility; to forms of strengthened cooperation internally and of partnership externally”. In his view, then, the essence of the Constitutional Treaty signed in Rome in 2004, should be retained, because “we cannot demand consensus from a political actor whose internal rules remain unclear”. In this context, Italy would not be against changes in terminology (it wants a “basic Treaty of the European Union”, whether it is called a Constitution or not), but stresses that the starting point cannot be the Nice Treaty to which a few alternations are made. “… some adjustments must be made, and there could even be additions”, such as a social Protocol, conceded Mt D'Alema. He went on, “I don't like the expression 'mini-Treaty' which only serves to put off more weighty decisions … I would rather use the term 'Core Treaty'” - with, as essential reforms, the establishment of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and of the post of permanent President of the European Council, the extension of qualified majority voting on the basis of the dual majority principle, the introduction of direct democracy mechanisms and a clearer system for the separation of authority and legislative sources, and the granting of legal power to the Charter of Rights (“this last innovation is perhaps the most important”).
Mr D'Alema stressed that the enlargement process was still not complete, and would only be so when the EU included the Western Balkans, and “at a later point that will involve a longer process, Turkey”. If clarity of the European project “involves more certain external borders”, achievement of it carries “an additional prerequisite”, according to Mr D'Alema: “the Union's greater internal flexibility”. Thus, with EU enlargement, “it is possible to imagine a common foreign policy structured on the basis of criteria of geographic responsibility and the creation of 'contact groups'”, he said, stating, “strengthened cooperation yes, but open and inclusive; directories, no”.
Summing up, Mr D'Alema said that “Europe will exist for the next fifty years if it succeeds in looking outwards”, if it makes international security a priority. This is proved by the Lebanese crisis, because Europe's response was the “first sign of reawakening”, the first indication “that Europe is being given a second chance”. (mg)