Brussels, 07/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the EU Council, said on Thursday that he was “realistic but optimistic” about the possibility that the EU heads of state and government would reach an agreement on the broad lines of the new EU treaty during the European Council on 21-22 June. In these difficult and complex negotiations, one must be “realistic” and it would not be reasonable to increase the “already high” expectations of the German presidency, “but I feel optimistic”, Mr Steinmeier said. He was speaking at the plenary mini-session debate of the European Parliament in Brussels on Thursday morning, which convened to prepare for the European summit. “We are not yet high and dry but a way of finding a solution (to the Constitutional Treaty) is taking shape”, the minister said, albeit sounding a note of caution: “It is a fitting moment to reach an agreement. We must seize this opportunity, as there will be no other”. He welcomed the Brok/Crespo report voted in the EP on Thursday (see article above) which, in his view, “struck a good balance between facing reality (i.e. the impossibility of ratifying the European Constitution) and the aim of reaching a valid treaty”.
Mr Steinmeier refused to enter into the details of the mainly bilateral consultations that he has held with Chancellor Angela Merkel over recent weeks (“Never in my life have I had so many bilateral meetings with my colleagues as I have recently”, said Steinmeier), but he nonetheless gave a number of pointers to explain his optimism: - (1) He explained that all his discussion partners in recent weeks have shown their resolve to safeguard the institutional part of the Constitutional Treaty and to include it in the new treaty to be developed. “I have heard no-one say that re-negotiation (of the institutional package) would put us in a better position”, he commented. Mr Steinmeier did not specify whether Poland (which, as we know, wants to do away with double majority for qualified majority voting in the Council) has effectively decided to dispense with the demands made during bilaterals with the German presidency; - as far as Community policies are concerned (energy, social, JHA, etc), all agree to at least maintain the same level of ambition as that in the Constitutional Treaty, and a “very large majority” of member states want to add new ambitions to the text (“Treaty Plus”) “mainly on climate change and solidarity in energy policy matters. - (2) As far as the Charter of Fundamental Rights is concerned, “a very large majority of member nations, almost without exception” want to preserve the legally binding nature of the text. The countries opposed to this (Ed.: mainly the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Poland) fear “this will reduce the competences of member states” but Mr Steinmeier said he was optimistic about the possibility of finding a compromise solution that “will also give satisfaction to the European Parliament” (which, as one knows, is adamant about keeping the text of the Charter in the future treaty). - (3) “Some countries” (mainly the Netherlands and the Czech Republic, see EUROPE 9439) want the upcoming new treaty to give more powers to national parliaments. “We must take this into account but I support a solution to this problem that, at the end of the day, in no way increases the number of veto possibilities”, said Mr Steinmeier. - (4) All member countries support the timetable set out in the Berlin Declaration of 25 March, namely to have the new treaty in force by the European elections of 2009. (hb)