Brussels, 12 February 2003

The Bureau of the Union of European Federalists (U.E.F.) welcomes the
presentation by the Convention Praesidium of the draft of first articles
of the Constitutional Treaty. The debate on the future political
direction of the European Union will now become more concrete. The draft
can serve as a basis for further progress towards a federal Constitution
but is currently not sufficient for meeting the challenges of an
enlarged EU in a globalized world.

In its Article 1, the draft Constitution instead of basing itself on the
will of the peoples and the States of Europe, only very weakly
“reflects” this will. This formula reveals the resistance to the idea of
going from a Union of States to a Union of Citizens. Furthermore “to
administer certain common competences on a federal basis” is
insufficient. All common competences should be governed on the basis of
the federal method including co-legislation of the European Parliament
and the Council, majority voting within the Council and the European
Commission acting as the Government of the Union.

In order to underline that the main purpose of the federal Union is to
serve the citizens, the Charter of Fundamental Rights should be fully
incorporated into the Constitution or even head it. It should not be
relegated to the second part or to a protocol annexed to the
Constitution.

Provisions on Union’s competences show a vision which is still too
intergovernmental. The Union’s competences-order proposed by the draft
articles should be further clarified and the Union’s competences should
be strengthened : Not only Common commercial policy but External
economic policy must fall under exclusive Union’s competences with
representation in WTO, IMF and other international institutions; The
Constitution should contain a clear EU competence for Common Foreign,
Security and Defence Policy, which should become an exclusive Union’s
competence after a transitional period, like the provisions in the
Maastricht Treaty for the Monetary Union.

The UEF expects that the drafting work of the Convention Praesidium in
the future better respects the consensus emerging from the Convention
plenary debates. The Convention’s institutional debate at the end of
January overwhelmingly supported the idea of an election of the
Commission President by the European Parliament. The upcoming draft
articles on European institutions must reflect this consensus.

Contact : Bruno BOISSIERE, Tél.: +32-2.508 30 32