Notre Europe's viewpoint
| 08/06/2007
It is already two years since the French and Dutch, with their "no" votes over the European constitutional treaty (ECT), inaugurated a difficult period for European integration. As of today 18 states have ratified the treaty - including several after the French and Dutch rejections - but seven others have chosen to suspend their ratification process. The necessary political conditions to break this impasse have so far not materialised: a pause for reflection involving citizens was necessary, and the results of Dutch, and later French, elections remained unknown. A meeting was nonetheless decided for the end of the German EU presidency, in order that the 27 might adopt a road map making clear the fate of the constitutional treaty and a calendar for its "salvaging". We are now on the eve of this key meeting, a real test of member states' political will not to condemn the EU to stagnation. Gaëtane Ricard-Nihoul's policy brief reminds us of the stakes of the European Council of 21-22 June, and of what issues we must not lose sight of when renegotiating the ECT.
Future possibilities remain wide open, because real negotiation was in practice not possible without the new French president. The idea of a "simplified treaty", a variant of Nicolas Sarkozy's "mini-treaty", seems popular, but with what content? Nothing seems less sure. Sarkozy's entourage describes it as a "treaty by chisel", which would feature all the institutional advances of the constitution and perhaps even some policy innovations. Italy or Spain could easily be imagined supporting this idea, similar to calls to maintain the "substance" of the ECT. But who can explain why the British and Polish governments - which have clearly expressed their desire to renegotiate key elements of the treaty, such as the question of the double majority vote in the Council, the extension of qualified majority voting, or the minister of foreign affairs - might also be in favour of this mini-treaty? Each country's "red line" remains an unknown quantity, and perhaps France's in particular.
Declarations and proposals on how to end the constitutional crisis have not been in short supply recently, and they will continue to emerge in the coming days. Notre Europe draws your attention in particular to the Action Committee for European Democracy, presided by Giuliano Amato, which has tabled a draft of a simplified treaty incorporating the institutional advances of the Constitution in addition to two protocols dealing with the EU's functioning and policies. We also highlight the report by Enrique Baron Crespo and Elmar Brok, adopted by the European parliament on 6 June, which demands the preservation of the basic principles of the treaty's part 1 and its charter of rights, and asks for a debate on certain other themes, such as climate change, the European social model, and economic governance of the euro zone.
Between these initiatives striving to keep alive an ambitious treaty and the confusion surrounding the idea of a simplified treaty, it is clear that the German presidency, and probably the Portuguese one too, will have their work cut out.
