Brussels, 23/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee on Tuesday that the German Presidency would, “at the start of June”, present a proposal to Member States on the European constitution, which would “retain the substance” of the current draft Constitutional Treaty. “We need the Constitution to make the EU more efficient, more transparent and more democratic. The substance (of the draft Constitutional Treaty) must be retained. That will be reflected in our proposals” in June, he said. Before then, the Presidency would have individual discussions with each Member State to find out exactly what the positions, concerns, and demands of each of them were. “We have to find a compromise. Some (countries) will have to move. If we take into account that two thirds of countries have already ratified the Constitutional Treaty, it is clear that some will have to move more than others,” he said, not mentioning any countries.
Mr Steinmeier faced a lot of criticism on the German Presidency's “lack of transparency” in the method it had chosen to prepare its June proposals, the use of “sherpas”. A large number of MEPs criticised this approach, limited to a circle of government representatives and which excluded the European Parliament. “Why not include a representative from the European Parliament and one from the European Commission in the sherpas group?” asked Alexander Stubb (EPP-ED, Finland). Austrian Green Johannes Voggenhuber warned the German Presidency directly: the EU's current crisis, including the problems with the European Constitution, would not be resolved by listening to governments alone. “You need the citizens and Parliaments to resolve the problems. The return to the sherpas policy and inter-governmental conferences will lead to nothing, because you will not have the necessary backing from citizens at referendums” on the future Treaty, which will be held in several countries, he said.
The German Presidency was very much for transparency, but experience had shown that there was “no alternative” to the “sherpas” method to bring about a worthwhile and viable draft compromise before June, the German minister argued, and he called on the EP to show “understanding” on this issue. However, once the Presidency's proposal was on the table, the European Parliament would, of course, be involved, he went on. As there would very probably an inter-governmental conference which would decide on the new Treaty (“I cannot imagine there being a new Constitution before the IGC”), “we will have to have open debate on how the European Parliament will take part in this intergovernmental conference,” he went on.
The Presidency would pursue the same restrictive method in its preparation of the “Berlin Declaration” to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Rome Treaties, which is due to be adopted on 25 March. The declaration will be short, two to three pages, and its preparation will be the responsibility of a small circle, Mr Steinmeier said. Bronislaw Geremek (ALDE, Poland), which stating he was not in favour of referendums on the European Constitution (which was “too bulky”), stressed that the Berlin Declaration of March should be “addressed to the citizens” and suggested that the German Presidency consult citizens on the “concrete issues”, such as their support, or not, for a common energy policy, a common foreign and security policy for the EU, a permanent EU Presidency, via the internet (possibly on 9 May, Europe Day). The Council and Commission needed to know exactly what citizens thought to make progress, he said.
Mr Stubb said he wanted a “Treaty plus”, that is, he supported the retention of the current text “with improvements and additions to Part III”, for example on climate change, energy policy, social Europe and immigration. Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK) welcomed the German Presidency's “attacking” approach, and stressed that Parts I and II of the current text should be retained and Part III should be “improved”. His fellow countryman Richard Corbett (PES) also argued for an “improvement” in Part III, without calling the other parts of the text into question.
Addressing the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg on Tuesday, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt also argued for a “top exit” from the Constitutional crisis, and called for the unanimity rule to be abandoned. “For the moment, we are trying to discuss a bottom solution: 'What do we have to get rid of to get the Constitution through?' A good approach would be, 'What do we need to add to get a consensus?'.” (hb)
Madrid welcomes “positive reactions” to meeting convened by “Friends of the Constitutional Treaty”
on Friday - Luxembourg cancels second meeting scheduled for February
Speaking before the EP Committee on Constitutional Affairs on Tuesday, Frank-Walter Steinmeier of Germany, MEP, said he “understood” why countries that have already ratified the draft Constitution, some even by way of referendum, should “also wish to be taken into account” in the debate on the future Treaty. The essential thing, however, is to ensure that initiatives such as that by the Friends of the Constitutional Treaty, who will be meeting on Friday 26 January in Madrid at a proposal from Spain and Luxembourg (EUROPE 9346), do not rule out other member nations and do not contribute to toughening positions. It would in fact not be very “wise” to complicate the task of the German Presidency at this tricky time in talks “but I think the organisers (of the Madrid meeting) are perfectly aware of this”, Steinmeier said. The German Presidency will not play “an active role” in the debate in Madrid but will take part as an “observer”, he explained. To avoid interfering in the work of the German Presidency, Luxembourg has decided to cancel the second 27-member meeting initially scheduled for 27 February in Luxembourg.
In the meantime, we learn that the Swedish and Danish governments have sent very positive messages to the Spanish authorities regarding Friday's meeting. The new Swedish government pointed out in particular that, in theory, it is in favour of the draft constitutional treaty and is waiting for the road to be taken by the EU regarding its future to be clarified before it puts it forward for ratification.
Furthermore, circles close to the Spanish government welcome the fact that the initiative taken in agreement with Luxembourg has gone beyond its initial goal. It was a double goal: to help the German Presidency prepare suggestions to be presented to the European Council in June on the roadmap to follow; and to ensure that the voices of Member States that have already ratified the Treaty are heard. To this must be added clarification of the situation of four other Member States that have not yet ratified: Ireland and Portugal which will attend Friday's meeting, and Sweden and Denmark which expressed their availability to proceed to ratification if the situation is clarified. The same Spanish circles say that, when all is said and done, only three Member States still have objections of substance regarding the draft constitutional treaty: - the United Kingdom, Poland and the Czech Republic. (hb/fr)