Conventievoorzitter Giscard d'Estaing over het nieuwe Hervormingsverdrag (en) - Hoofdinhoud

According to Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the European Council has agreed only cosmetic changes to the rejected constitution to avoid the risk of further referendums on ratification. The former President of the Convention on the Future of Europe gave this assessment to the Constitutional Affairs' Committee on Tuesday during a discussion which also included Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado for the Council presidency.

Most MEPs taking part in the debate with Mr Giscard d'Estaing agreed that the agreement on EU reforms reached by the Member States in June salvages the substance of the draft constitution. The former Convention President said: "In terms of content, the proposals remain largely unchanged, they are simply presented in a different way." "The reason is that the new text could not look too much like the constitutional treaty", he added, so EU governments agreed on "cosmetic changes to the constitution to make it easier to swallow".

Jo Leinen (PES, DE), chair of the committee, agreed with the former French President, saying: "Member States tried to make the old version appear as something new (...) to get it through." Timothy Kirkhope (EPP-ED, UK) said: "The UK government stated the new treaty does not contain any constitutional element;  I find it a cynical approach." Jens-Peter Bonde (IND/DEM, DK), who had opposed the Constitutional Treaty from the start, said he preferred the old version since the new one lacks of clarity. He agreed that, "on legal obligations, there is no difference" between the two texts.

Strong criticism on the loss of symbols

Following May 2005 rejection of the constitution by French and Dutch voters, the EU institutions committed themselves to improving dialogue with the public. In this context, Giscard d'Estaing criticised the fact that the European Council did not want the EU flag and anthem mentioned in the new treaty. He quoted a recent Eurobarometer survey saying that 70 per cent of EU citizens were in favour of the flag as symbol of Europe. He then declared: "We always say we want to be closer to citizens, and then we get rid of the flag; I find it quite odd."

According to Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann (GUE/NGL, DE), "if someone attacks symbols, it means that also what the symbols stand for has been attacked". Nevertheless, said Klaus Hansch (PES, DE), "although symbols are not in the future treaty, they won't disappear".

President Giscard d'Estaing said that the lack of political will shown by the Council was the most negative aspect.

No need to re-open the mandate from the summit, says Amado

Portuguese Foreign Minister and President-in-office of the Council, Louis Amado agreed with other speakers that, "changes in the new text are more semantic in nature, but the essence [of the Constitution] is guaranteed from the point of view of the institutional mechanisms."

On the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) due to draft the new EU treaty, Mr Amado declared: "I feel that we have a clear mandate and we'll be able to transfer it into a treaty". He admitted that there are still political problems on issues such as the voting system, but he assured MEPs: "We do not want to open up the mandate because we risk missing the objective to have a treaty ready by the end of this year". He also stressed the "very important role of the EP in the IGC".

MEPs agreed with the Minister that the new treaty must reflect that agreement at June's summit. Maria da Assunçao Esteves (EPP-ED, PT) said "the Parliament must be vigilant". She added: "The Portuguese Presidency must be the guardian of good faith". Sérgio Sousa Pinto (PES, PT) said that the Presidency must ensure that: "Member States do not make a step back when looking at the so-called legal details".

Transparency required

MEPs in committee insisted on guarantees of transparency in the IGC's work. Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK) said: "There's suspiciousness that the IGC is somehow a giant exercise of obscurity (_) We should publish all contributions to the discussion as soon as possible upon a specific website."

Mr Amado declared himself in favour of publicising the IGC meetings. He said: "We are willing to work together (...) to disseminate information and to involve all European media".

The Intergovernmental Conference is due to start on 23 July 2007. Parliament will be represented by Elmar Brok (EPP-ED, DE), Enrique Barón Crespo (PES, ES) and Andrew Duff (ALDE, UK) in the IGC meetings at ministerial level, while EP President Hans-Gert Pöttering will take part in any meetings of Heads of State of Government.

16/07/2007

Committee on Constitutional Affairs

In the Chair : Jo Leinen (PES, DE)