Right from the beginning there was intense discussion on the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Linking in with the recent crisis in Iraq and the deep divisions caused in the EU, participants were keen to develop policies which would support the development of the CFSP in order to demonstrate the potential of such a policy in the EU given sufficient political will. Strengthening the Petersburg tasks and building up the Rapid Reaction Force were identified as key objectives for the Union in the coming years. Qualified Majority in the CFSP and fulfilling already existant political agreements would be necessary to create a democratically legitimate and account foreign policy close to the EU citizens.
On the issue of whether the Common Foreign and Security policy should be an exclusive or a shared competence, there were differences in opinions, both groups focusing on the EU’s responsibility in defending human rights.

The group broadly agreed that there should be a catalogue of competences in order to ensure transparency in the types of decisions made in the European level as well as to ensure that the principle of subsidiarity remains a core focus for the Union. Upon examining the lists contained in articles 11 and 12, a number of key issues of interest were identified. Complementing the discussion on the CFSP there was debate as to whether humanitarian aid and defence policy should be added to either the exclusive or shared competences. However, there was a general consensus that these were issues that should be added at one of the two levels for the Union to begin to take action in.

It was felt that agricultural policy should be moved to the competence of the member states, as it was felt that the CAP was beginning to focus on regional development as part of the structural funds rather than an agricultural policy as per its original mandate.



Economic policy should be more clearly defined in the future EU constitution, as it was felt that the existing articles lacked the clarity needed to provide support for monetary and economic policies of the EU. An EU tax was seen as necessary in order to ensure the principles of federalism are defended, where each level has responsiblity for raising and spending its own budget.

A more controversial question was that of the EU’s actions in social policy. There was a strong call for social policy to stay exclusively a competence of the member states, as the Charter of Fundamental Rights already provides the basic framework that we are calling for. Other people saw the need for the European Union to focus more on social policy in setting minimum standards for the EU citizens, as a function of defending their human rights.

Going into the detail of the structure of the EU constitution, there were questions about whether the catalogue of competences would be better placed in part II of the constitution in order simplify the process of amending the competences.