INTRODUCTION:

ECOSY welcomes the work of the European Convention. On the eve of enlargement and in a period of an increasing number of international crisis, increasing unemployment and an ever lower social standards for the citizens of Europe, it is the Conventions task to arrive to at a real federal constitution for a social Europe. No national state will be able to respond to the challenges of globalisation on its own. If the problems of today's Europe are to be faced effectively then the citizens of Europe must act together in a more democratic Europe, with a constitution that also addresses the issue of institutional effectiveness.
ECOSY criticises the current proposals of the convention and gives new proposals in the following areas;

TITLE I: Definition and objectives of the Union

Article 1. ECOSY calls for a strong role for the citizens and inhabitants of Europe in the Constitution. We do not want to see a pure confederation of national states but a true democratic structure. Therefore we call for a Europe based on the participation of citizens, inhabitants and states. If we are honest with the citizens of Europe, we also have to acknowledge that Europe does not only have competencies on a federal basis, but that it is based on a federal structure.

Article 2. ECOSY wants a Union based on common values and principles. Besides the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights we believe that peace, secularism, sustainability and solidarity are crucial elements of the Unions values. We are especially disappointed that the convention failed to include Equality, a cornerstone of any modern democracy.

Article 3. ECOSY believes that a main objective of the Union has to be a establishing full employment with a high level of welfare. This goal should be pursued through a socially regulated economy, with a bigger space for public services and the social non-profit sector and a minimum citizens income. We stand against a free market with the sole aim of deregulation and privatisation. In this perspective, growth and full employment should be included as the primary objective in the statutes of the ECB. The ECB should be answerable to and sanctioned by the European Parliament.

TITLE II: Fundamental rights and citizenship of the Union

Article 5. We view as a necessity that the Charter of Fundamental Rights is incorporated into the Constitution. ECOSY rejects the motion of Giscard d'Estaing to hide the Fundamental Rights Charter in an Annex of the Constitution. The Charter must be at the beginning of the European Constitution as an emphasis on understandability and relevance for Citizens

Article 6. ECOSY agrees with the presidium that any discrimination on the grounds of nationality shall be prohibited. Nevertheless ECOSY underlines, that all discrimination, independent whether on the basis of religion, nationality, gender, gender identity sexual orientation, culture, age, disability or ethnic origins should be prohibited. Also the Constitution must include the article on Children’s Rights contained within the Chapter of Fundamental Rights but should also advance beyond these terms.

Article 7. As a consequence of the incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights into the Constitution, ECOSY wants to underline that all discrimination, according to Article 21in the Charter, should be prohibited.

TITLE III: The Union's competences

Article 10. ECOSY strongly believes that full employment, a high level of welfare, economic stability and respect of the social rights of employees can only be guaranteed through a European Social market economy. Economic policy can therefore not be separated from social policy. ECOSY therefore strongly calls for social and economic policy to be established on the same level, as a shared competence between the Union and the member states. If member states simply had to coordinate their economic policies, there would be no pressure to guarantee high employment, social security for employees and economic stability. Instead there need to be common standards on the European level concerning economic and social policy, such as a minimum wage and the strengthening of trade unions and their role in setting wages for all employees.
It is with increased democratisation of the institutions of the EU, and change of aims and statutes of the ECB that we can better achieve the socially regulated economy we aim for in Article 3.

Article 11. ECOSY believe that we should also include the free movement of information as central to the challenges of the information age and the possibilities of social mobility/equal opportunity

Article 12. In line with the socialist initiative of the Lisbon Process, ECOSY demands that employment policy be a shared competence of the EU. ECOSY thinks that Europe needs a complementary competence on children’s, Youth and Education Policy, giving clear answers to issues specific to them. Europe must now have a clear vision on education, the information society, intercultural youth exchange, youth employment and every day problems of marginalized young people.

Article 14. ECOSY calls on the Convention to establish a European Constitution with an understandable delimitation of competencies. The Convention should not claim to abolish the complicated pillar structure in the treaties when it instead tries to introduce this very structure in the chapters on "Union Competence" and on the "Exercise of Union Competence". The "Common Foreign and Security Policy", "Common Defence Policy" and "Police and Criminal Justice Policy" should be exercised as shared competencies. To introduce new decision making and implementation mechanisms for these policies would lead to an even more complicated Union.
The failure of a European Foreign Policy, which only responds to the needs of national governments, has been obvious in the previous months and years. In the area of Common Foreign and Security Policy and in defence policy it is therefore extremely important to involve the European Parliament in the decision making process, by applying the codecision procedure. The EU CFSP should be based on arms control, crisis prevention and development policies and should seek to strengthen the role of multilateralism, International Law and the UN. Under the framework of the UN, the EU undertakes to promote the renounciation of the installation, possession and/or use of A.B.C weapons through global multilateral treaties.

Article 15. ECOSY believes that the phrase "complementary competencies" is much more appropriate for the competencies listed in Article 15 than "Areas for supporting action". Furthermore ECOSY believes that employment and industry policy of the member states have a crucial impact on the respective policies of other member states. If Europe is willing to reduce unemployment, this will only be possible in a united approach. Therefore ECOSY calls for employment and industry policy to be a shared competence between the Union and the member states.

Article 16. ECOSY is of the strong conviction that the European project will not be concluded after the adoption of the European Constitution. Therefore ECOSY welcomes the introduction of the flexibility clause but this hinges on a greater democratisation of the institutions.

IN CONCLUSION:
Overall, While ECOSY welcomes any advance towards a more clear, democratic, flexible and social Union, it is dismayed at the lack of political ambition, courage, vision or will. We denounce the failure to include one of the founding values of modern day republics, that of equality from the draft articles. We also are greatly sceptical of the engagement with the Youth and Civil Society of Europe, was it nothing but an expensive PR exercise? If the Convention is to win the trust of these sections of society, it must hold more hearings after the draft is completed but before it is finalised. More worrying is the indication that the Convention itself maybe nothing but an elaborate and expensive talking shop, as the signs are that the IGC will just scrap the suggestions and do what it wants anyway! WE denounce any attempt at this. In light of the enlargement and the ‘so called’ beacon of democracy we have held aloft for these countries, it falls on us to ensure the maximum legitimacy for any European Constitution that is to be ratified over the coming years.

Contact: ecosy@europarl.eu.int; www.ecosy.org