Valery Giscard d’Estaing presented the Constitutional text to the Member State representatives in the Thessaloniki Summit. Although there was a general acceptance of the text as a ’good basis for the IGC’, some countries insisted on their concerns.
The United Kingdom said that they will use their veto on foreign policy and taxation matters.
Spain expressed its interest to go back to the Nice Treaty provisions on the voting system.
Poland insisted on the need to include a reference to Christianity in the text.
Italy takes the presidency of the Union next Wednesday 1st July. The ICG, which will debate the content of the Constitutional text from the 14 October onwards in Rome, will be under the Italian presidency.
However, the Irish government, which will hold the presidency of the Union from the 1 January 2004, is ready to continue the debates on the Consitutional text if the Italian presidency does not finish the job.
The Convention members now face their last Plenary session on the 9-11 July to finish Part III (policies) of the Treaty.
But far from the Convention dissolving, they intend to remain ’on call’ to monitor the Rome IGC and eventually mobilize to make sure that the Text remains unchanged.
The conclusions of the Thessaloniki Summit on EUROPA web site
