- Dienstag, 08. Mai 2007 12.30 – 14.30 Uhr In meinem Kalender speichern
The Future of the Constitutional Treaty – Is the German Presidency leading the way to a pragmatic solution ?
BÖLL LUNCH LECTURE
In a recent questionnaire, the German presidency asks a dozen questions to find out what changes the other member states are willing to accept in the constitution. The presidency wants to establish the issues which need to be addressed by an intergovernmental conference (IGC) under the Portuguese presidency. It wants to keep these issues limited, so that the new treaty can be adopted by the end of the year and ratified by 2009. Germany wants to agree the outline framework of a new treaty with minimal changes at the final summit meeting under its presidency in June (which will also be Tony Blair’s last summit as a prime minister). Bilateral consultations will take place from 23 April till 4 May.
Problems encountered so far:
· Poland: wants to revise the voting weights as agreed in the constitution
· UK and Netherlands: want “amending treaty” rather than ”constitutional treaty” in order to avoid referendums
· UK wants to see Charter of Fundamental Rights removed from text and it opposes the title of European foreign minister and might possibly want to limit treaty changes to the institutional innovations (Part I of the constitution)
· Czech Republic: opposes renegotiation, also wants to see the CFR removed from text.
· France: In case Ségolène Royal wins the presidential elections, the German roadmap may be blocked. After all, she promised the French voters a new EU constitution and a new referendum.
With new suggestions concerning the social dimension, energy and climate change, criteria for enlargement and opt-in/opt-outs to new provisions of the constitutions, the German presidency is trying hard to get every member state on board, the question remains how minimal the new minimal treaty will be in the end, how much of the original ideas and changes will be preserved. In a recent study (1), ex-Commissioner Michaele Schreyer (Greens) pleads for a new package that “preserves the results of the Convention on reform of the EU for greater democracy, transparency, and improves capacity to act, divides the TCE into a Constitutional Treaty and a Policy Treaty, initiates agreements for social minimum standards and sets a new ‘grand project’ in motion.”
Will the seemingly pragmatic path the German presidency is following lead to results which enable the Union to function properly in the near future and at the same time take a away the objections of European citizens? How crucial is it to safeguard the name “constitution”? Will it be possible to defend the Charter of Fundamental Rights as integral part of the text? What status could references to the EU’s social dimension and to climate change and energy have? And, after all, is there still a role for the European citizens? _____________________________________________ (1) THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY - Positions and proposals of the Greens and other European political actors. A pdf copy will be sent with registration, hard copies will be available at the event.
____________________________________________
Speakers:
- Michaele Schreyer, former EU Commissioner for Budget
- Tony Venables, Director European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
- Simon Taylor, Senior Political Reporter, European Voice
Moderator:
- Ralf Fücks, Member of Executive Board Heinrich Böll Foundation
Problems encountered so far:
· Poland: wants to revise the voting weights as agreed in the constitution
· UK and Netherlands: want “amending treaty” rather than ”constitutional treaty” in order to avoid referendums
· UK wants to see Charter of Fundamental Rights removed from text and it opposes the title of European foreign minister and might possibly want to limit treaty changes to the institutional innovations (Part I of the constitution)
· Czech Republic: opposes renegotiation, also wants to see the CFR removed from text.
· France: In case Ségolène Royal wins the presidential elections, the German roadmap may be blocked. After all, she promised the French voters a new EU constitution and a new referendum.
With new suggestions concerning the social dimension, energy and climate change, criteria for enlargement and opt-in/opt-outs to new provisions of the constitutions, the German presidency is trying hard to get every member state on board, the question remains how minimal the new minimal treaty will be in the end, how much of the original ideas and changes will be preserved. In a recent study (1), ex-Commissioner Michaele Schreyer (Greens) pleads for a new package that “preserves the results of the Convention on reform of the EU for greater democracy, transparency, and improves capacity to act, divides the TCE into a Constitutional Treaty and a Policy Treaty, initiates agreements for social minimum standards and sets a new ‘grand project’ in motion.”
Will the seemingly pragmatic path the German presidency is following lead to results which enable the Union to function properly in the near future and at the same time take a away the objections of European citizens? How crucial is it to safeguard the name “constitution”? Will it be possible to defend the Charter of Fundamental Rights as integral part of the text? What status could references to the EU’s social dimension and to climate change and energy have? And, after all, is there still a role for the European citizens? _____________________________________________ (1) THE FUTURE OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY - Positions and proposals of the Greens and other European political actors. A pdf copy will be sent with registration, hard copies will be available at the event.
____________________________________________
Speakers:
- Michaele Schreyer, former EU Commissioner for Budget
- Tony Venables, Director European Citizen Action Service (ECAS)
- Simon Taylor, Senior Political Reporter, European Voice
Moderator:
- Ralf Fücks, Member of Executive Board Heinrich Böll Foundation