Strasbourg, 14/02/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 14 February, the members of the European Parliament heard a speech by one of their own, who has gone on to become President of the Italian Republic: Giorgio Napolitano, a former member of the European Parliament, who has left behind the strong legacy of his committed and robust chairmanship of the committee on constitutional affairs. You chaired this committee effectively and wisely, said the President of the Parliament, Hans-Gert Pöttering, speaking alongside him. Almost entirely in Italian, he paid tribute to the role of Italy, which “is and remains one of the fundamental pillars of European integration”, and to Giorgio Napolitano, who is this European tradition made flesh.
Giorgio Napolitano opened his speech by saying that he returned to the European Parliament “with the same feeling of belonging to the parliamentary institution and to Europe. Between the European Parliament and the national parliaments, I have never seen any incomprehension or antagonism (Mr Napolitano was also an Italian MP for several decades), just mutual respect and cooperation”. In this Parliament, Mr Napolitano continued, it is possible to “represent the interests of one's own country, but in line with a broader vision of the problems to be conceived in the European dimension”. When it came to choosing between moving forward, treading water or even taking a few steps backwards, the EP has always opted for the first of these, he continued, giving the example of its adoption, exactly 23 years ago, of the draft Treaty instituting the European Union. Despite the failure of this project and the disappointment that was Nice, the EP can be proud of its role in the period which followed, and particularly in the Convention which drew up the draft Constitutional Treaty.
Given the current stalemate, should we really say that the Constitutional Treaty is dead, that the signature of 27 countries means nothing? In any case, the political leaders “are now paying for their lack of effort in getting the citizens involved in the unification process”, without underestimating the improvements, even partial ones, which had been made to a Treaty which was, of necessity, a compromise, but a compromise which must not be reopened, due to the risk of having to start again from scratch. “Nobody can be thinking of putting aside the balance of this compromise to the benefit of their own ideas”.
If- Mr Napolitano said this even more unambiguously in the press conference- certain countries are proposing to go further, there are others which are proposing to take a step backwards by considering opening up the way for the “risky” hypothesis of a vanguard group. Paradoxically, Mr Napolitano told the press conference, it is precisely the countries which fear being excluded from a Vanguard group (certain new Member States in particular) which do not seem to have grasped that the Constitutional Treaty gives “every country” the option to be involved in the decisions and the policies of the Union.
Working on a draft Constitution, Mr Napolitano added, is not a formal exercise, it is “neither a caprice nor a luxury, but an absolute necessity”. A strategy of a “Europe of plans and of results” (despite the progress represented by the European position in the Lebanon war and the EP's contribution to reinforcing the financial perspectives) cannot be a viable alternative. The fact remains that “with the current institutional framework, we will not get very far at all”.
Welcoming the fact that orientations have been drafted for new common policies (environment and energy), Mr Napolitano pointed out that very often, proposals “lead to very meagre results and extremely slow progress”. Referring to the European immigration policy, but also (here, as on many occasions during his speech, the orator was applauded by his audience) the fact that the transition to the single currency was not followed by “economic governance”, which is a necessary condition for the achievement of the Lisbon objectives, amongst other things.
How, then, will we breathe new life into these projects and “allow the Europe of results really and truly to grow?”. The decisive element is the “strength of the institutions and of political commitment”. The European Union “must have stronger institutions than the resistance shown by the defenders of various vague national presumptions”, said Mr Napolitano. The Treaty, said the Italian President, “removed any fear or suspicion that we were moving towards a centralised European super-State”, and it made decisive steps in the field of a common foreign policy, but: if there are those who question new ideas, such as the institution of a European Foreign Affairs Minister, others, for example, would once again propose a greater extension of qualified-majority decisions at the Council, and the removal of unanimity for all future reforms of Treaties and their entry into force.
Mr Napolitano's conclusion was an appeal to the sense of responsibility and political goodwill of all (including “our good friend France, which has such a sense of its role in Europe and in the world”. In Strasbourg on Tuesday, Angela Merkel reiterated the objective of the adoption of the Constitutional Treaty before the European elections of 2009 (see EUROPE 9365), and the Italian President agrees with her: whatever the roadmap to be adopted by the 27 at the end of the German Presidency (Mr Napolitano declined to take position on any alternative hypothesis), “what matters is that we can already agree on the need to be able to present the Constitutional Treaty to the citizens during the 2009 elections, with its message and its programme”. (lg)