Message of the President regarding the Agreement on the Constitutional Treaty
Summary: JUNE 21, 2004: MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT REGARDING THE AGREEMENT ON THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY (BRUSSELS)
Dear Colleagues,
The difficult discussions on the appointment of the new President of the Commission have sometimes taken precedence in the media over the European Council's agreement on the Constitutional Treaty last Friday. Coming only a few weeks after the Union's biggest enlargement, this is, however, a historic achievement. The low turnout in the recent European Parliament elections and the scepticism displayed by some with regard to European integration have inspired doubts: is Europe really going into
the right direction? Personally, I am convinced that we can win over European citizens to this cause only through concrete achievements. Now both events, enlargement and the agreement on the European Constitution, indicate clearly that Europe is truly making progress.
The Commission has every reason to be proud of this European Constitution. For several years, we have worked hard with successive Presidencies, the European Parliament and the governments of the Member States in order to achieve this result. Three and a half years ago, after the negotiating marathon in Nice, I called for a new more open and more democratic way of negotiating the Union's basic texts. At the time, few thought that this would be possible. Yet the fact that the elaboration of a
Constitution was entrusted to a Convention in which representatives of national parliaments, the European Parliament, the national Governments and the Commission openly discussed the future of the Union has been one of the most outstanding developments of recent years.
The result of these deliberations was unexpected and I am delighted to note today that the Intergovernmental Conference that had to give its final agreement has largely taken on board the Convention's proposals. In the end, even though the Intergovernmental Conference introduced a large number of editorial modifications, the real changes were limited to a somewhat lesser ambition with regard to the scope of qualified majority voting and to other options for some institutional questions.
I would like to take this opportunity to set out the essential elements of the European Constitution.
The Union will have a single foundation, the Constitution
Europe has been built in stages and is based on different Treaties that have been concluded over time. This is why the European construction is difficult to understand today. From now on, there will be only one
European Union replacing the present "European Communities" and the "European Union"; the three "pillars" will be merged, even though special procedures in the fields of foreign policy, security and defence are maintained; the EU and EC Treaties, as well as all the treaties
amending and supplementing them will be replaced by the "Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe".
The integration of the
Charter for Fundamental Rights into the text, the clear acknowledgement of the Union's values and objectives as well as the principles underlying the relationship between the Union and its Member States, allow us to call this basic text our "Constitution". It also contains a clearer presentation of the
distribution of competences and a
simplified set of legal instruments and procedures.
In legal terms, however,
the Constitution remains a treaty. Therefore, it will enter into force when only all Member States have ratified it, which implies popular consultations in some Member States. It should be noted that any modification of the Constitution at a later stage will require the unanimous agreement of the Member States and, in principle, ratification by all. For some modifications, however - for example with regard to the extension of the scope of qualified majority
voting - a unanimous decision by the European Council will suffice.
A revised institutional framework
The attention paid to the Member States' divergences of opinion, particularly with respect to the definition of qualified majority and the composition of the Commission, has somehow veiled the fact that the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) has to a large extent confirmed the Convention's efforts to reform and clarify the institutional framework.
In fact, the Constitution
clarifies the respective roles of the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission. In particular, it recognises the different missions of the Commission, including its near monopoly of legislative initiative, its executive function and its function of representing the Union externally, except in the field of common foreign and security policy. The Constitution devotes the principle of interinstitutional programming to the Commission's initiative. It
extends very substantially the scope of the co-decision procedure, which, significantly, will henceforth be called the legislative procedure (95% of European laws will be adopted jointly by the Parliament and the Council).
The main institutional innovation is the creation of the post of
Union Minister of Foreign Affairs, who will be responsible for the representation of the Union on the international scene. This function will merge the present tasks of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy with those of the Commissioner for external relations. The Minister of Foreign Affairs will thus be mandated by the Council for common foreign and security policy, while being a full member
of the Commission and as such in charge of the Commission's responsibilities in the field of external relations as well as of the coordination of the other aspects of the Union's external action; in addition, he will chair the External Relations Council.
The Constitution establishes the
European Council as an institution, distinct from the Council. The European Council will be chaired by a President, with limited powers, appointed for a period of two and a half years. On the other hand, and in contrast to what had been proposed by the Convention, the system of twice-yearly rotation among the Member States of
the presidency of the different Council formations (with the exception of the External Relations Council) will be
maintained, although within a "team presidency" of three countries. This system will be able to evolve in the future since it can be altered by the European Council acting by qualified majority.
As to the
composition of the institutions, the IGC finally decided to raise the maximum number of seats in the
European Parliament to 750. These seats will be allocated to the Member States according to the principle of "degressive proportionality", with a
minimum of six and a
maximum of ninety-six seats. The precise number of seats attributed to each Member State will be decided before the European elections in 2009.
The IGC decided to maintain the
current composition of the
Commission - one Commissioner per Member State -
until 2014. From then on, the Commission will comprise a number of Commissioners corresponding to
two thirds of the number of Member States. The members of the Commission will be chosen according to a system based on
equal rotation among the Member States, which had been already decided by the Nice Treaty.
The
definition of qualified majority for decision-making in the Council was, as is well known, the most difficult question the IGC had to deal with. As proposed by the Convention, the Council will henceforth decide on the basis of the
double majority of the Member States and of the people, which constitutes an expression of the Union's double legitimacy. The IGC nonetheless decided to raise the thresholds: instead of the majority of Member States representing 60% of the
population, the IGC decided that a qualified majority will require the support of
55% of the Member States representing 65% of the population. This definition is accompanied by two further elements. First, in order to avoid the situation where, in an extreme case, only three (large) Member States would be able block a Council decision due an increase in the population threshold, a blocking minority needs to comprise at least four Member States. Moreover, a number of Council members
representing at least three-quarters of a blocking minority, whether at the level of Member States or the level of population, can demand that a vote is postponed and that discussions continue for a reasonable time in order to reach a broader basis of consensus within the Council.
Progress relating to the achievement of the area of freedom, security and justice, and in the field of common foreign and security policy
The Convention did not modernise all the Union's policies. The content of most provisions that govern the Union's policies thus remains unchanged. As opposed to, for example, the Single European Act or the Maastricht Treaty, the Constitution does not extend the Union's competences considerably.
However, the Constitution significantly updates provisions in the field of Justice and Home Affairs, in order to facilitate and improve the establishment of the
area of freedom, security and justice. In fact, the Community method will from now on apply to all the areas in question. Moreover, they will fall to a large extent within the scope of qualified majority voting. Nevertheless, the Constitution retains or introduces some special features in these areas, namely in the area of
judicial cooperation in criminal matters and in the area of police cooperation.
The provisions regarding
external relations have been re-written, but in essence, the distinction between common foreign and security policy and the other aspects of EU external action still determines the respective roles of the institutions and the procedures that apply. Nevertheless, the creation of the post of Union Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the task of developing mutual confidence and the European reflex of the Member States, undoubtedly strengthens the Union's role in
world affairs, in all areas. Moreover, the possibility of providing more ways for the Member States to cooperate more closely in the field of
defence will underpin the credibility of the Union's foreign policy.
For some other policies, such as economic governance, the Commission would have liked to strengthen the Union's means of action. However, the essential changes are limited to a further
extension of the scope of qualified majority and a
near generalisation of the co-decision procedure. It should be noted that, in addition to some specific provisions, unanimity is retained in the field of
taxation and, partially, in the field of
social policy and
common foreign and
security policy. Although "passerelles" allow a unanimous decision that henceforth qualified majority will apply in a given area, it remains to be seen whether the existence of such clauses will be sufficient to maintain the Union's capacity to act. Moreover, the future development of the Union means that account must be taken of the fact that laws on
own resources and the
financial perspectives must be adopted
unanimously, as must revisions of the Constitution
itself.
A system marked by increased democracy and transparency
The Constitution introduces, or confirms in a fundamental text, an important number of provisions aiming at more democratic, transparent and controllable EU institutions that are closer to the citizen. It would be hard to enumerate them all, but I would like to draw your attention to some of them, as an example. The Constitution provides citizens with the right to invite the Commission to submit an appropriate proposal to the legislator, if they manage to collect one million signatures in a
significant number of Member States. The proceedings of the Council, when exercising its legislative function, are to be open to the public. National parliaments are to be informed about all new initiatives from the Commission and, if one third of them consider that a proposal does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity, the Commission must review its proposal. New provisions on participatory democracy and good governance have acquired constitutional status.
* * *
Now the Heads of State and Government have agreed on the draft Constitution, it is subject to ratification. I shall be very interested in the debate on the Constitution, in national parliaments and more broadly in civil society, especially in those Member States where ratification will be accompanied by popular consultation. In the months and years to come, it will be important for you, as European officials, to inform our fellow citizens on the Constitution in an objective way. The
Constitution does not entail a revolution; neither is it limited to a mere consolidation of what already exists. However, it is essential in order to allow maintaining and developing European integration and the smooth functioning of the institutions of the enlarged Union.
Romano PRODI
- Ref: EC04-153EN
- EU source: European Commission
- UN forum:
- Date: 21/6/2004
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