The Future of Europe:the European Convention facing the constitutional choice

Brussels, 14 October 2002

The European Convention - established after the European Council in December 2001 – needs a crucial orientation on the far-reaching decisions of its results, in order to provide an answer to the numerous questions on the future of Europe written in the Laeken Declaration. The Convention has to choose among different models for the enlarged Union. Within this Union, a multicultural group of countries will live together, becoming a political entity with no comparisons in the rest of the world.

The way towards a constitutional treaty

There is a large consensus within the Convention to achieve as final result a Constitutional-treaty that can become the basis for the enlarged Union provided with a legal personality, which will replace the current legal status of the existing European Communities. This Constitutional treaty will be composed of:

a. a first part stating:
" The objectives and the principles of the European Union
" The Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted in Nice
" The division of competencies
" How to allocate powers to the European institutions
" The principles which will govern the financing of budget in the European Union
" And the principles concerning the procedure which is going to be adopted for its coming into force and its successive amendments (“the Constitution”).

b. and a second part collecting the reformed rules of the treaties stating the following points:

v the functioning rules of the institutions
v the competencies
v and the organisation of the common policies

The Permanent Forum of Civil Society – born in 1995 from an idea of the International European Movement, – welcomes this proposal, since this initiative finally opens the way towards a European Constitution, as it had been recommended in its project of “Charter of Fundamental Rights” adopted in Rome in March 1997. Choosing the constitutional approach, the Convention expresses its will to affirm the democratic character of the reforming process of the European Union. However, this has to result in the adoption of principles, values and common rules according to this will.

The lack of answers to the challenges of our century is a risk for the future. The Permanent Forum would like to attract the Convention’s attention to the fact that there is a necessity to create an entity capable to guarantee the common good.

The confederal or intergovernmental option

The Convention could decide to turn into a confederal system - a pure intergovernmental co-operation - that would lack of coherence and cohesion. In this framework, the market would increasingly impose the economy set of laws as the political rules would be imposed by external powers from outside the Union.
In this system:

" the European institutions would only play a symbolic role
" the development towards the pre-eminence of a ever-lasting negotiations among the representatives of twenty-five or more states would be irrepressible
" the community solidarity would be endangered
" the democratic character of the decisions would be reduced to nothing, as well as the effectiveness of the European Union.

This choice will be a step backward compared to the current situation

Or the federal Europe

On the other hand, if we stay convinced of

" the importance of Europe to be able to speak with a single voice in the world
" the existence of shared values
" the aims of solidarity and social, economical and territorial cohesion
" the impossibility for the single states to act and to face, standing alone, the transnational challenges of our century.

It t is time to deal with the issue of Europe’s lack of power and of its unresponded responsibilities under the framework of pursuing the community integration of a federal Europe. A federal Europe based on the principles of a representative, participative, parity and pluralist democracy.

The twelve proposals of the Permanent Forum of Civil Society

In this spirit, the Permanent Forum launches a strong appeal to the civil society as a whole, asking for a commitment on the way to the European Constitution based on these options, proposing to the Convention to consider the following elements into consideration:

1. It is necessary to draw up a fundamental text that will become a Constitution and not only longer an international Treaty. This Constitution should be short, written in a clear and understandable language, including the following chapters:

" a preamble based on a new vision for the Union on the eve of the 21st century
" feature and values of the European Union
" missions of the Union: (I) a European, representative, participative and parity democracy (II) a new social contract (III) role of Europe in the World
" the citizenship - extended to the non EU citizens that live under the jurisdiction of its territory- and the Fundamental Rights (including a reference to the Charter of Nice and a progressive clause)
" the objectives and the system of division of competencies
" the institutions, their powers, their functioning and their relation
" a way of financing European Union’s budget
" the borders of the European Union
" the joining and revision procedures

2.The drawing up and the adoption of the Constitution should result in the creation of a new political entity in order to integrate all the legal, political and socio-economical implementations of the Communities and the Union.

3. The Constitution must state the principle of sovereignty of the European Union’s citizens, according to the majority of national constitutions of the member states and the candidate countries. In this spirit, a chapter should be dedicated to the principles of participative democracy. The proposals formulated by the Permanent Forum of Civil Society in article 7 of its project of “Charter of Fundamental Rights" could be a source of inspiration for this chapter.

4. The affirmation of the principle of sovereignty must take the shape of a procedure allowing EU citizens to express their will on the adoption of the European Constitution either
" by a European referendum
" by the election of a constituent assembly

5. The assignment of the legal personality to the European Union guarantees a single representation of the EU and the member states within the international organisations and in the relations that the EU has with other areas of the world. The assignment of the legal personality will have as consequence the suppression of the present division into the three pillars (Community; Defence, Foreign and Security policy; and space of freedom, justice and security) in favour of the adoption of the community method concerning the acts of the European Union.

6. The assignment to the European Union of the legal personality allows the EU to join the Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and to the revised Social Charter of Turin.

7. The current system of division of competencies between the European Union and the member states is not based on the creation of an unbending catalogue of competencies, but on a wider system of shared competencies. At the same time the exclusive competencies of the EU has to be preserved, in order to defend the common good and to promote the sustainable development. This system has to be based on the following principles:

- A policy that- according to the Treaties or to a European Council’s decision- is qualified at the European level as a question of common interest, has to be considered as an exclusive competence nvolving the rules of the EU legislation.
- A policy that- according to the Treaties or to the European Council’s decision is qualified at the European level as a question of common interest- has to be considered as a shared competence between the European Union and the different political levels of the member states under the framework of the EU legislation.
- A policy, that is an exclusive competence in a member state, cannot be the object for a recommendation or an advice based on a Community procedure. These competencies require coordination at the European level

8. In the framework of the Economic and Monetary Union, a constitutional procedure should be set up, involving the governmental responsibilities of the Commission and decision power of the EP and the Council, and allowing the adoption of common criteria for the drawing up of the budgets of the member states.

9. The Constitution should include a “pact for social inclusion”, integrating the principles of the right to work and the recognition of “socially useful" activities, as well as the principles regarding the work legislation and the principles of services of general interest. Therefore the Constitution should refer to life long training and education, the principle of redistribution of incomes, guaranteeing a minimum living standard in the framework of cessation of the notions of income and work.

10. The institutional system has to be based on:

- the constituent, legislative, and budgetary powers of a representative Assembly of all the peoples in Europe (European Parliament) and a Council representing the governments (the Council of the Union), the former moved by an absolute majority, the latter acting by a qualified majority;
- a government of the Union with the powers of initiative, enforcement and representation of the Union in external relations (the Commission);
- the formation process of the European Government should be linked to the direct election of its president. This might help to develop a debate on the “common good”, acting also as pioneers for democracy in the XXI century. Therefore, the assize of the President should be composed not only by representatives from representative democracy, but should have a wider composition. In order to achieve these results the European citizens should vote at the same time for the election of the MEPs proposed by political parties, and for the president of the government. He or she has to be nominated by a coalition of European political parties.
- by a Council of Heads of States and Government (the European Council), responsible in particular for giving its opinion about the EU major policies.
- an organisation of representative democracy at a European level involving the co-responsibility of the national parliaments and of the European Parliament in areas actually submitted to the national ratifications (new members of the EU, modifications of the treaties, own resources). It is possible to face a system that will bring together, on an equal basis, representatives from national parliaments and from the European Parliament. They will have the power to adopt by a qualified double majority, the joining treaties, the constitutional revisions and the increasing of the community incomes.

11. The Constitution should include the principles of a European tax and of a European Union fiscal power. In the framework of a fiscal equalisation (“Finanzausgleich”)-in order to assure a balanced development of the financial and monetary Union, all the mechanisms of stabilisation and cohesion should start at the local level, between municipalities belonging to the same province or region.

12. In the case it will be impossible to reach an unanimous agreement for the adoption of the Constitution, the governments of the countries representing the majority have to negotiate the new relations with the member states, which decided not to adopt the Constitution.

Pier Virgilio Dastoli
spokesman of the Permanent Forum

Permanent Forum of Civil Society
Forum Permanent de la Société Civile
Square de Meeûs, 25
B-1000 Bruxelles
Phone (32) 2 508 30 84
Fax (32) 2 508 30 89
http://www.forum-civil-society.org
a. a first part stating:
" The objectives and the principles of the European Union
" The Charter of Fundamental Rights adopted in Nice
" The division of competencies
" How to allocate powers to the European institutions
" The principles which will govern the financing of budget in the European Union
" And the principles concerning the procedure which is going to be adopted for its coming into force and its successive amendments (“the Constitution”).

b. and a second part collecting the reformed rules of the treaties stating the following points:

v the functioning rules of the institutions
v the competencies
v and the organisation of the common policies

The Permanent Forum of Civil Society – born in 1995 from an idea of the International European Movement, – welcomes this proposal, since this initiative finally opens the way towards a European Constitution, as it had been recommended in its project of “Charter of Fundamental Rights” adopted in Rome in March 1997. Choosing the constitutional approach, the Convention expresses its will to affirm the democratic character of the reforming process of the European Union. However, this has to result in the adoption of principles, values and common rules according to this will.

The lack of answers to the challenges of our century is a risk for the future. The Permanent Forum would like to attract the Convention’s attention to the fact that there is a necessity to create an entity capable to guarantee the common good.

The confederal or intergovernmental option

The Convention could decide to turn into a confederal system - a pure intergovernmental co-operation - that would lack of coherence and cohesion. In this framework, the market would increasingly impose the economy set of laws as the political rules would be imposed by external powers from outside the Union.
In this system:

" the European institutions would only play a symbolic role
" the development towards the pre-eminence of a ever-lasting negotiations among the representatives of twenty-five or more states would be irrepressible
" the community solidarity would be endangered
" the democratic character of the decisions would be reduced to nothing, as well as the effectiveness of the European Union.

This choice will be a step backward compared to the current situation

Or the federal Europe

On the other hand, if we stay convinced of

" the importance of Europe to be able to speak with a single voice in the world
" the existence of shared values
" the aims of solidarity and social, economical and territorial cohesion
" the impossibility for the single states to act and to face, standing alone, the transnational challenges of our century.

It t is time to deal with the issue of Europe’s lack of power and of its unresponded responsibilities under the framework of pursuing the community integration of a federal Europe. A federal Europe based on the principles of a representative, participative, parity and pluralist democracy.

The twelve proposals of the Permanent Forum of Civil Society

In this spirit, the Permanent Forum launches a strong appeal to the civil society as a whole, asking for a commitment on the way to the European Constitution based on these options, proposing to the Convention to consider the following elements into consideration:

1. It is necessary to draw up a fundamental text that will become a Constitution and not only longer an international Treaty. This Constitution should be short, written in a clear and understandable language, including the following chapters:

" a preamble based on a new vision for the Union on the eve of the 21st century
" feature and values of the European Union
" missions of the Union: (I) a European, representative, participative and parity democracy (II) a new social contract (III) role of Europe in the World
" the citizenship - extended to the non EU citizens that live under the jurisdiction of its territory- and the Fundamental Rights (including a reference to the Charter of Nice and a progressive clause)
" the objectives and the system of division of competencies
" the institutions, their powers, their functioning and their relation
" a way of financing European Union’s budget
" the borders of the European Union
" the joining and revision procedures

2.The drawing up and the adoption of the Constitution should result in the creation of a new political entity in order to integrate all the legal, political and socio-economical implementations of the Communities and the Union.

3. The Constitution must state the principle of sovereignty of the European Union’s citizens, according to the majority of national constitutions of the member states and the candidate countries. In this spirit, a chapter should be dedicated to the principles of participative democracy. The proposals formulated by the Permanent Forum of Civil Society in article 7 of its project of “Charter of Fundamental Rights" could be a source of inspiration for this chapter.

4. The affirmation of the principle of sovereignty must take the shape of a procedure allowing EU citizens to express their will on the adoption of the European Constitution either
" by a European referendum
" by the election of a constituent assembly

5. The assignment of the legal personality to the European Union guarantees a single representation of the EU and the member states within the international organisations and in the relations that the EU has with other areas of the world. The assignment of the legal personality will have as consequence the suppression of the present division into the three pillars (Community; Defence, Foreign and Security policy; and space of freedom, justice and security) in favour of the adoption of the community method concerning the acts of the European Union.

6. The assignment to the European Union of the legal personality allows the EU to join the Convention of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and to the revised Social Charter of Turin.

7. The current system of division of competencies between the European Union and the member states is not based on the creation of an unbending catalogue of competencies, but on a wider system of shared competencies. At the same time the exclusive competencies of the EU has to be preserved, in order to defend the common good and to promote the sustainable development. This system has to be based on the following principles:

- A policy that- according to the Treaties or to a European Council’s decision- is qualified at the European level as a question of common interest, has to be considered as an exclusive competence nvolving the rules of the EU legislation.
- A policy that- according to the Treaties or to the European Council’s decision is qualified at the European level as a question of common interest- has to be considered as a shared competence between the European Union and the different political levels of the member states under the framework of the EU legislation.
- A policy, that is an exclusive competence in a member state, cannot be the object for a recommendation or an advice based on a Community procedure. These competencies require coordination at the European level

8. In the framework of the Economic and Monetary Union, a constitutional procedure should be set up, involving the governmental responsibilities of the Commission and decision power of the EP and the Council, and allowing the adoption of common criteria for the drawing up of the budgets of the member states.

9. The Constitution should include a “pact for social inclusion”, integrating the principles of the right to work and the recognition of “socially useful" activities, as well as the principles regarding the work legislation and the principles of services of general interest. Therefore the Constitution should refer to life long training and education, the principle of redistribution of incomes, guaranteeing a minimum living standard in the framework of cessation of the notions of income and work.

10. The institutional system has to be based on:

- the constituent, legislative, and budgetary powers of a representative Assembly of all the peoples in Europe (European Parliament) and a Council representing the governments (the Council of the Union), the former moved by an absolute majority, the latter acting by a qualified majority;
- a government of the Union with the powers of initiative, enforcement and representation of the Union in external relations (the Commission);
- the formation process of the European Government should be linked to the direct election of its president. This might help to develop a debate on the “common good”, acting also as pioneers for democracy in the XXI century. Therefore, the assize of the President should be composed not only by representatives from representative democracy, but should have a wider composition. In order to achieve these results the European citizens should vote at the same time for the election of the MEPs proposed by political parties, and for the president of the government. He or she has to be nominated by a coalition of European political parties.
- by a Council of Heads of States and Government (the European Council), responsible in particular for giving its opinion about the EU major policies.
- an organisation of representative democracy at a European level involving the co-responsibility of the national parliaments and of the European Parliament in areas actually submitted to the national ratifications (new members of the EU, modifications of the treaties, own resources). It is possible to face a system that will bring together, on an equal basis, representatives from national parliaments and from the European Parliament. They will have the power to adopt by a qualified double majority, the joining treaties, the constitutional revisions and the increasing of the community incomes.

11. The Constitution should include the principles of a European tax and of a European Union fiscal power. In the framework of a fiscal equalisation (“Finanzausgleich”)-in order to assure a balanced development of the financial and monetary Union, all the mechanisms of stabilisation and cohesion should start at the local level, between municipalities belonging to the same province or region.

12. In the case it will be impossible to reach an unanimous agreement for the adoption of the Constitution, the governments of the countries representing the majority have to negotiate the new relations with the member states, which decided not to adopt the Constitution.

Pier Virgilio Dastoli
spokesman of the Permanent Forum

Permanent Forum of Civil Society
Forum Permanent de la Société Civile
Square de Meeûs, 25
B-1000 Bruxelles
Phone (32) 2 508 30 84
Fax (32) 2 508 30 89
http://www.forum-civil-society.org