EU leaders continued on Friday 20 June the works of the European Council, dedicated on Friday morning to debate the first project for a European Constitution.
Greek premier Minister Costas Simitis received in a public ceremony the draft of the Constitutional Text from the hands of Valery Giscard d’Estaing, president of the Convention.
Costas Simitis said that "whatever the result" they had "lived through an important day in the history of the Union".
The representatnts of the governments met afterwards, behind closed doors, to listen to Giscard d’Estaing explanations.
Once Giscard finished his exposition and left the European Council’s meeting room, the leaders debated for the first time the proposal for a Constitution.
Coming out of the meeting room, EU leaders gave a generally positive reception to the draft Constitution.
Generally the current member states struck a more positive tone than the ten countries set to join the EU next year.
Of all 25, Austria and Luxembourg were among the most critical.
During the IGC next October, however, member states will have carte blanche to open up whatever sections of the draft treaty they want.
Some diplomats remarked that the Summit was not the place to begin these negotiations so leaders were content to leave them until the intergovernmental conference.
The Convention will reach its official end on 15 July as still needs to do "purely technical" work on the third policy part of the Constitution.
This phrasing, argue some diplomats, is a sure sign that governments are now waiting for the IGC, as big issues such as the nature of the bureaucracy attached to the new post of foreign minister still has to be decided, as well as the exact competences of the Union and the relation with member states.
The conclusions of the summit say the constitution is a "good basis for starting in the intergovernmental conference". It urges Italy, as the next presidency holder, to put the wheels in motion to start the IGC in October of this year.
Source: EU Observer
