Brussels, 25/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - At the gathering of European affairs ministers of the 18 EU member states that ratified the constitutional treaty (as well as Ireland and Portugal, see EUROPE 9346) in Madrid on Friday, the Spanish and Luxembourg ministers who organised the meeting, Alberto Navarro and Nicolas Schmit, stress in a joint article published in the European press this morning that their intention is to “help the German presidency in its difficult and major task” and also to “make our voices heard in the debate on the future of Europe”. The question is not that of knowing whether the European Constitution is alive or dead, say the two authors of the article, “but the fundamental question we must answer is: What model do we want for Europe of the XX1st century?”. In an increasingly globalised world, a united Europe that is able to act is more than ever necessary, Navarro and Schmit go on to say. “For some time now, Europe has not been equal to the stakes before it”. Some feel that there is too much Europe and that policies should be brought back under national competence, that Community legislation should be reduced and that one should fall back on national identities. “It would be a step backwards, without future”, they say. “We believe, on the contrary, that we need a better Europe, able to act in a more coordinated and effective way with common policies, for example in the fields of immigration and energy. These questions that concern citizens on a daily basis cannot be resolved at the national level alone”.
The current draft constitutional treaty defines the model for Europe on which the future must be based, a model that can be summarised in four points, say the Spanish and Luxembourg ministers. These points are: 1) a political Europe with common policies. “We cannot resign ourselves to the fact that Europe is only a single market or free trade area (…). We want a political Europe, which speaks with a single voice, with a foreign minister and a common foreign service. We want a Europe that enjoys the advantages of its internal market but which also has common policies”; 2) a Europe of values and solidarity; 3) a Europe of citizens. “Europe must come closer to its citizens and explain to them the added value brought by its policies for their rights, their prosperity and their security. Europe must not be synonymous with bureaucracy but, on the contrary, open up a broader road for citizen participation. It must be based on the double legitimacy of state and citizen. Europe will happen with its citizens, or it will not happen at all”; 4) a more effective, more transparent and more democratic Europe. “Our common objective is therefore to extend qualified majority but also to simplify procedures so that European action is more transparent for citizens. To this end, we must also involve our national parliaments more as stipulated in the constitutional treaty”. (hb)