Brussels, 18/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - Spain and Luxembourg's initiative to organise a meeting on 26 January in Madrid for the 18 Member States that have already ratified the Constitutional Treaty, followed by a meeting with all Member States on 27 February in Luxembourg (EUROPE 9329), has been explained in a letter by European affairs ministers of the two countries, Nicolas Schmit (Luxembourg) and Alberto Navarro (Spain), sent to their colleagues on 14 December. In the letter we can read that Member States that have already ratified the Constitutional Treaty, have a “particular interest in helping the German presidency reach an agreement that will allow for a relaunch in the process of reforms and preserve the substance of the text that we have already ratified”. The goal of the meeting restricted to the 18 European affairs ministers in Madrid will be to “examine the state of play and discuss what approach to follow”. The letter explains that dialogue will then be extended to 27 February where all Member States that have still not proceeded to ratification of the text, as well as France and the Netherlands. Irritated by the exclusion of France from this first meeting, president Jacques Chirac underlined that the second meeting with all countries was with the “exclusive competency of the German presidency and it was therefore up to the latter to decide on the modalities of how to organise its work”. The Dutch prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende, whose country was also excluded from the first meeting, also insisted on the fact that the initiative “cannot develop its own dynamic”. A Dutch diplomat explained to EUROPE that “We do not want these meetings (organised by Madrid and Luxembourg) to interfere or take the place of the work of the future German presidency”. The Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern, whose country has also ratified the text, on the other hand, welcomed the Hispano-Luxembourg initiative and said that it demonstrated that the pro-Constitution camp had taken things in hand and that there were nearly 20 countries that strongly believed that the Constitution should essentially remain as it is.
Addressing the press on Monday after the extraordinary plenary session of the European Parliament on the Summit (pp 5/6), the Finnish prime minister Matti Vanhanen reiterated the three conclusions that he had drawn from his “confidential consultations” with other leaders over the last few weeks, namely: all States agree that the current treaty should be reformed; it is inconceivable that we should start from scratch; most Member States would like to keep either the treaty or at least as much of its substance as possible. (hb)