A new Constitutional Treaty is good for the Member states of the European Union and vital for the EU’s future

European Parliament, Strasbourg, 04/05/2004

I am very pleased to be invited to speak to you today in this general debate on the future of the enlarged European Union . Towards a European Constitution. Today's debate is taking place as representatives of all the Member States and of the Parliament are meeting in Dublin. The task that has been set for them is to resolve the outstanding non-institutional issues in the debate on the Constitutional Treaty.

As a member of the European Convention, I am very conscious of the hard work and the deep commitment of the representatives of the European Parliament to the Convention process. While we may not have been entirely in agreement on each and every issue, I valued our shared commitment to producing a Constitutional Treaty that will serve this Union well and that will commend itself to the citizens of Europe. While negotiations on the draft Treaty are yet to be concluded, we can take some satisfaction from what has been achieved. I should like to underline that at this point in our discussions we have moved much further, in a much more positive way, than anyone would have believed possible in the dark days of December and the early days of January.

The draft that came out of the Convention provided the Intergovernmental Conference with a truly excellent framework on which to build a Constitutional Treaty that will stand the test of time. The draft is presented in language which is more accessible than any previous Treaty.

The draft makes it clear who does what in the Union. It elaborates the doctrine of subsidiarity, it clarifies the scope of the European Union's powers, it enhances democratic accountability and simplifies the range of legal instruments through which the Union acts. It seeks to provide the Union of 25 and more Member States with institutions that are workable and capable of meeting the needs of our citizens and of our Union into the future. It enshrines for the first time a Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Union's constitutional order. It equips our Union to act with greater cohesion internally and to project and promote our shared values on the world stage, the very values of which Mr Hume spoke so movingly a few moments ago.

Full speech is available at:
http://europa.eu.int/futurum/documents/speech/sp040504_en.pdf