Dear Europeans,

In the last month we have witnessed a revival of Constitution talks. The Irish presidency undertook a series of bilateral meetings in order to gather necessary information for the report it has to present at the Spring European Council. So far it looks that the positions have remained unchanged. In spite of the clear need for a final solution, some national capitals seem the only, though the crucial, factor opposing the immediate adoption of the draft Constitution.

Besides the European Parliament, European Parties and many other players involved in the discussion on the Constitution, the European public has also clearly expressed its demand for a European Constitution. A recent survey (linked to this Bulletin) showed that almost 80% of the people would like to see the Constitution adopted now. Surprisingly, citizens are also ready to make concessions in order to make this happen, since they have realized that the Union might face an institutional paralysis if the voting arrangements are not modified.

A politically very important trilateral meeting took place in Berlin. Blair, Chirac and Schroeder met to discuss the future of the European economy and devised some possible solutions. As a result the next Commission might include a „super-Commissioner“ in charge of economic reform. The small summit has been generally welcomed, but some fears remain that the EU of 25 could in the future be run in a similar fashion. In fact, it was a hidden signal that EU needs a more efficient method of decision-making.

The elections for the European Parliament are approaching slowly. If the Constitution is not adopted before, its destiny will dominate the political campaign. A large part of current MEPs and civil society groups are constantly increasing their pressure on the national governments to agree on the final text before the June elections. If not, the debate could lose momentum. And this is something that the EU of 25 member states clearly does not wish for its fresh start.

The phase of secret bilateral talks has to end soon. The art of trading for concessions has shaped the political landscape of the first months of 2004. But a strong message has been sent by the citizens – Europe needs a Constitution now! And this is the most legitimate mandate that European leaders will ever have.

This bulletin will continue to be published on a monthly basis. The next edition will be send to you on 9th April 2004. As usual you are welcome to send us your contributions to mailto:convention@jef-europe.net, deadline for the next issue is 7th April 2004. You can read all articles of this Bulletin in full length on: http://www.constitutional-convention.net.

With best regards,

Editor in chief.

“The idea of approving the European Constitution in the second half of this year is a trap into which the project could fall and which would pose grave risks to the enlarged Europe.”

Giuliano Amato, Vice-Chairman of the European Convention

Brussels, 17 February 2004

EU Constitution: a large majority of people want their government to make concessions to secure agreement

A new EU survey shows that 77% of people in the 25 countries are in favour of the EU adopting a Constitution, with 15% opposed to the idea. Support has increased from 67% just before the launch of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). More than 2/3 of people expect a paralysis of European institutions in the absence of a Constitution. 62% want their country to make concessions to secure an agreement. 59% agree that Member States who wish to deepen their cooperation can do so without waiting for all other Member States.

Survey interviews were conducted by Eurobarometer in 25 countries between 14 and 23 January 2004.

The European Commission opened a new online forum asking young Europeans: Does Europe need a Constitution?

To participate visit:
http://europa.eu.int/futurum/index_en.htm

A detailed research paper on the debate on “multi-speed” Europe that has re-emerged after the Brussels summit failure:

- in english: http://www.ciginfo.net/demain/files/tomorrow21en.pdf

- in french: http://www.ciginfo.net/demain/files/demain21fr.pdf

Check the latest news about the Constitution and its adoption on
http://www.constitutional-convention.net/uptotheminute

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The recent EU survey on the future European Constitution shows that a clear majority – 77 percent - of the European citizens from 25 states want the Constitution to be adopted now. The Young European Federalists (JEF Europe) have long campaigned for the adoption of a European Federal Constitution and see the results as a strong signal, which the European leaders cannot ignore anymore.

“One of the main fears when drafting the Constitution was that people are not ready to accept it. The results of the survey show exactly the opposite! The failure of the IGC in Brussels and the missed step forward, surprisingly gave a boost to the citizens. What we lack now is the political will of the European leaders to follow and adopt the draft Constitution to see a more effective and democratic Europe emerge,” said Jon Worth, the President of JEF Europe.

The survey also shows that people – 67 percent - fear the work of the EU institutions may be paralysed in the absence of a Constitution. A majority of the respondents think that their governments must be ready to make concessions on their national position in order that the Convention text is adopted.

“This is a clear message from the citizens, that the European Union based on the Nice treaty is not an option in the enlarging Union,” continued Jon Worth. “We need to move the EU closer to the citizens by creating a structure which is more transparent and democratic.”

JEF Europe regrets that the survey also shows an opportunity to inform the citizens properly have been missed by the governments.

“Most of the governments have done too little to inform their citizens on the work of the Convention and its end result – the draft Constitution. More effort should be put in offering the citizens the access to better and more understandable information.”

Your Press Contact:
Marianne Bonnard, Secretary General
mailto:sg@jef-europe.net
Tel: +32 2 5120053

Speaking today in Budapest at the 16th meeting of the Presidents of the Parliaments of countries participating in the enlargement process, Pat Cox MEP, President of the European Parliament said, "My appeal today is for the Europe of 25 to work in the spirit of compromise to ensure that the draft constitutional treaty can be in place before the next European elections in June."

Brussels, 16-17.02.2004

Giuliano Amato, former Vice-Chairman of the Convention, did not hide his fears when he addressed the EP Constitutional Affairs Committee on Tuesday: "The idea of approving the European Constitution in the second half of this year is a trap into which the project could fall and which would pose grave risks to the enlarged Europe", he said. In the absence of the Convention's former chairman, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, held up in Paris by an airline strike, MEPs discussed the current position regarding the IGC with the two former Vice-Chairmen, Mr Amato and Mr Dehaene, following on from their discussion with Commissioner Michel Barnier on Monday.

Mr Amato and Mr Barnier backed an idea put forward by several MEPs, including Olivier Duhamel (PES, F) and Carlos Carnero González (PES, E), that the European Parliament could formally adopt the draft Constitution drawn up by the Convention to ensure that this fundamental document did not get diluted by the passage of time or the striking of deals. Several speakers also supported the idea of a "rendez-vous clause" to break the logjam at the IGC by postponing the changeover to a new qualified majority system.

Brussels, 12 February 2004

The Committee of the Regions,

A. HAVING REGARD TO the Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe of 18 July 2003 drawn up by the European Convention;

B. HAVING REGARD TO the presidency conclusions of the European Council of 12 and 13 December 2003;

C. HAVING REGARD TO the presidency proposals to the IGC at the European Council of 12 and 13 December 2003 (CIG 60/03, CIG 60/03 Add. 1, CIG 60/03 Add. 2);

D. HAVING REGARD TO the Laeken Declaration on the Future of the European Union;

E. HAVING REGARD TO the European Parliament resolutions of 18 December 2003 on the outcome of the Intergovernmental Conference (P5-TA-PROV (2003) 0593) and of 29 January 2004 on the programme of the Irish Presidency-in-office of the Council and the European Constitution (P5-TA-PROV (2004) 0052);

F. HAVING REGARD TO the CoR's opinion of 9 October 2003 on its proposals for the Intergovernmental Conference (CdR 169/2003 fin);

G. HAVING REGARD TO its Bureau's decision of 18 November 2003, under the fifth paragraph of Article 265 of the Treaty establishing the European Community, to draw up a resolution on the subject;
adopted the following resolution at its 53th plenary session of 11 and 12 February 2004 (meeting of 12 February 2004).

EU Trade Commissioner

CEPS (Center for European Policy Studies)

Brussels, 19 february 2004

Minister (Dick Roche), ladies and gentlemen. Thanks for inviting me back to CEPS this evening. I would like to begin with a message for your International Advisory Council. You are a brave lot. You showed up at the starting event featuring an after dinner speech by Pascal Lamy. I fear I am not renowned for wit and repartee. And indeed I was brutally reminded of this by the organisers. "Whatever you do, Pascal" I was told, "get right into the policy stuff. You're not here for jokes or amusing stories. We couldn't get Bill Clinton. We couldn't even get Pat Cox. We got you."

OK. So I'll jump straight in. The theme of this conference is about enlargement, about how we can make it work. But I would like to put to you that the real debate is now less about how to make enlargement work, and more how we can make the EU work. Less a question of the humble mechanics of the different institutions, and more a question of what we could and should do together. That will be the focus of my talk this evening.

But nonetheless, it must be said that this enlargement is an extraordinary achievement, and arguably Europe's most important ever. It is geopolitical in scale. In business speak, we are about to merge our fifteen existing member states with ten countries to our east and south. To extend the business metaphor a little further, it is important to remember that this merger is a friendly act. Indeed, many of our new member states have experienced hostile takeovers, sometimes more than one, in the last century, despite brave "shareholder" opposition.

So. New share-holders. New client base. If this is a friendly merger, how does the EU proceed ? Look for a consultant with a decent track record to give straight advice, and in particular a serious check up on strategy, organisation and image. And let me also pose for you this evening as just such a consultant.

You can read the full speech on-line at:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.gettxt=gt&doc=SPEECH/04/89|0|RAPID&lg=EN&display=

Or download it in pdf:
http://europa.eu.int/rapid/start/cgi/guesten.ksh?p_action.getfile=gf&doc=SPEECH/04/89|0|RAPID&lg=EN&type=PDF

Brussels, 16 February 2004

On the occasion of the 20th anniversary - 14 February -, of the adoption by the European Parliament of the draft Constitutional Treaty presented by Altiero Spinelli, the Union of European Federalists reaffirms the urgency to proceed resolutely on the constituent track initiated twenty years ago.

According to UEF Secretary-General Bruno BOISSIERE: " a fundamental political act must now give concrete expression to the visionary ideas put forward at the time ; a first European Constitution should be adopted before the EP elections of June 2004. Indeed, without an immediate qualitative step forward as the one proposed by the European Convention, the European Union will neither get a chance to meet the current challenges nor be able to initiate further developments".

Altiero Spinelli's lucidity and vision of a democratic, efficient and transparent citizens'Europe must inspire all parliaments and governments, which have the political will to realize the federal aim as envisaged since the origin of European integration. Therefore the UEF invites the European Parliament to follow its vocation and to take, in a coordinated action together with the national parliaments, all necessary initiatives so that the current constitutional process leads to the approval of the Convention draft before the European elections.

"Governements must look ahead to the future of Europe, instead of going back to intergovernmental practices of the past which are not democratic and would also condemn Europe to the incapacity to act. The political Europe should not go backwards ", declared UEF President, Jo LEINEN, MEP.

Students of the College of Europe in Natolin (Poland) present an interesting and innovative plan for reform of the voting system in the EU.

To read the full text of the proposal visit:
http://www.coleurop.be/pdf/Making%20Europe%20Work.pdf

To read the summary visit:
http://www.coleurop.be/pdf/SummaryComparisionQMV.pdf

More about the project:
http://www.coleurop.be/pdf/AboutTheProject.pdf

On the 18th of February, EWL sent a letter to all EU Foreign Ministers and Permanent Representatives reiterating its demand to introduce ‘equality of women and men’ as a value of the European Union in article I-2 of the draft Constitutional Treaty. Although welcoming the Italian Presidency proposal of last November to include ‘the principle of equality between women and men’ in the second sentence of the provision, EWL believes that it would be stronger and more legally accurate to speak about the right to gender equality as opposed to the principle of equality. The reference to "equality of women and men" should therefore be included in the first sentence: ‘The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, including equality of women and men, the rule of law and respect for human rights.. ’. This recommendation is crucial as the draft Constitution refers to the “values of the Union” as one of the criteria for accession of new countries or in case of suspension of rights of countries in breach with these values.

The full document can be found on-line:
http://europa.eu.int/futurum/analyse/contrib/socio/0080_c3_en.pdf

On the eve of the Spring Summit, Solidar calls upon heads of states to:

Come to an agreement on the EU Constitutional Treaty. The Convention’s ambitions -shared by all of us in civil society- of creating a more democratic Europe closer to its citizens, prepared for enlargement and ready to live up to its global role, can not be shattered by member states going back to defending their very own national interests without taking the broader picture of European integration into account. Unnecessary delay and prolonging the crisis will feed the democratic deficit and give dynamism to the euro sceptic but little else.

Include the equality between women and men in Art. 2 on the values of the Union.

Ensure that development co-operation will not be used as an instrument of CSDP, CFSP or the solidarity clause. This would be totally contradictory to the independent nature of development aid (Art. I-39.4).

Ensure a strong social dimension of EU policy making. To do so, SOLIDAR calls for the inclusion of a social clause into the General Provisions at the beginning of Part III and the extension of Qualified Majority Voting to the field of anti-discrimination.

Find the full press release on-line:
http://europa.eu.int/futurum/analyse/contrib/other/0083_c2_en.pdf

The civil society group Act4Europe publishes a regular information Bulletin on the IGC and Constitution.

You can access the latest issue at:
http://act4europe.horus.be/module/FileLib/BULLETIN22.pdf

The full archives arealso on-line:
http://www.act4europe.org/code/en/act4.asp?Page=9&menuPage=9

The European Journalism Centre from Maastricht is organising a set of seminars explaining the EU Constitution. The event is supported by the Secretariat-General of the European Commission