No waiting for “2nd referendum” in Ireland. Wisdom and political courage are the order of the day and without waiting for the ratification process to be completed, the European Parliament has spoken out about the institutional implementation of the Lisbon Treaty, the appointment of the next European Commission and how the new European Parliament will work after next month's elections. It makes sense that the current Parliament passes on the fruit of its reflections and convictions to its successor. Nonetheless, two months ago, the “Conference of Presidents” decided not to vote on the reports prepared by the institutional committee but just to have a debate, without taking a position. Why? Out of fear of negative reactions in Ireland: Irish citizens might have got the impression that their new vote on the Lisbon Treaty was unimportant because the EU was preparing its entry into force all the same.
This column was the first to criticise, in no uncertain terms, this unjustifiable precaution (EUROPE 9863) because it had already been established that the EU would reassure the Irish people about the four points on which it had expressed its concerns: a) respect for member states that want to remain neutral; b) confirmation that each country would keep its autonomy over abortion and family law (including divorce) and education; c) rule of unanimity when adopting common tax standards; d) a political commitment to re-establish the principle of “a European commissioner per nationality”. These provisions are clearly a product of the Lisbon Treaty but some of the Irish people fell for the web of lies and propaganda from the Eurosceptics. The updating of legal texts on these points has not been completed but the content has been agreed. It therefore makes sense that Jo Leinen, the president of the constitutional committee, managed to get the plenary session to speak out, which it did with its approval by very clear majorities, of the reports by Messrs Dehaene, Brok, Leinen and Ms Kauffmann and Guy Quint.
EP orientations on a number of essential points. In EUROPE 9897, several pages focused on the debates on the reports mentioned, as well as their results. This column will therefore only underline the political significance of the three orientations on the sometimes most controversial points, particularly:
the permanent president of the European Council must never be “president of the EU”; his task will mainly, according to the EP, be one of preparing and organising the work of the summits, without encroaching on the remit of the other institutions (between governments, this point is still being discussed);
the continuity and coherence of the work of the Councils - the presidency of which will remain subject to the rule of half-yearly rotation (all of them, with the exception of the Foreign Affairs Council which will be presided over by a vice-president of the Commission; and Eurogroup whose presidency has already been extended) - would be ensured by a “troika system” that brings together the acting and previous and future presidents;
the future permanent dialogue between the EP and national parliaments will specifically have to cover the politically sensitive and controversial aspect of foreign and defence policy funding. The Lisbon Treaty significantly extends the budgetary powers of the EP (the Guy Quint report clarifies this aspect). The Brok report has planned a permanent network of EP committees and national parliaments, which will facilitate early dialogue on EU legislative projects and their funding, and which will also involve strengthened EP control on CFSP and ESDP spending. This is a complex and politically important issue on which skirmishes are already breaking out in connection with the discharge for the 2007 budget (EUROPE 9888). Mr Brok believes that the EP should have its word, in liaison with the national parliaments, even on this spending category.
The five reports also mean that the European Parliament spoke out about other essential questions that have to be clarified, including the setting up of the new European Commission (appointment of the president, the number of commissioners etc) and especially the method for setting out the future multiannual financial frameworks that will determine the scale of the annual budgets and also include the solidarity principle, infrastructure funding etc. These different aspects cover the new fields of European construction - if the Lisbon Treaty enters into force.
This treaty therefore remains decisive for Europe's future. In my opinion, it is indispensable that the positions and lines on the treaty are clarified. This will be the subject of this column tomorrow.
(F.R./transl.rh)