THE IGC
Italian Presidency says "European Constitution, Agreement Not Easy, Not Impossible", 28th July
Presidency website. Finding a compromise solution to allow for the adoption of a future European Constitution "will not be easy but it won’t be impossible either," according to Premier and European Union duty president Silvio Berlusconi.
Italy intends to play a neutral role in the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) which it hopes will complete its work by December 10, he said during a meeting with Portuguese Premier Durao Barroso.
In the negotiations, Italy "cannot have a position which is dictated by its own interests because any solution will have to have the approval of all 25 countries," Berlusconi explained. (ANSA).
A bit of clarity on the structure of the IGC, 8th August
EurActiv. The Intergovernmental Conference on the future EU Constitution will begin in Rome on 4 October.
In the period leading up to the opening of the conference, the Member States will continue to come forward with their observations and concerns on the draft European Constitution.
The previous IGC in 2000 involved a series of regular ongoing consultations by the Permanent Representatives in Brussels which undertook the technical and administrative negotiations.
The political issues were decided by Ministers at the General Affairs Council (GAC) meetings. Three GAC sessions are scheduled during the period of the 6th IGC.
Review of previous IGCs.
Presidency website. The Italian presidency has issued a historical document reviewing the length and achivements of the past five IGCs.
PHONE CALL WITH THE COUNCIL SECRETARIAT
28 August - The Italian Presidency is curently involved in a tour of European capitals (25 of them!) to discuss with Member States the methodology of the IGC.
It is expected that there will be a limited number of expert groups because the text has already been through the Convention process.
Once a list of issues to be discussed has been prepared, the issues will be divided into three groups:
to be discussed by legal experts,
to be decided by Foreign Ministers and
to be negotiated by the Heads of States themselves.
Given the difficulties in the process, if the Italian Presidency’s deadline of December is missed, the IGC can continue into 2004 but must be completed by the end of April 2004 as enlargement takes place officially on 1 May 2004.
The Council will be the Secretariat of the IGC and plans to make available as much material as possible (agenda of meetings, minutes/reports etc) but this depends on the Italian Presidency.
EU Foreign Ministers meet next week (1 September onwards) and one of the items on their agenda is the timetable and working methods for the IGC.
POSITIONS OF MEMBER STATES
German Judge calls for the creation of a "Competence Court", 21st August
EU Observer. A top German judge, based at the Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe, has called for a separate court to judge on disputes over competences.
The European Court of Justice cannot do this as it may not rule on national constitutional law and the equivalent national courts may not do it as they cannot rule on interpretation of European law.
Such a new court should be at European level and should have a representative from each member state - but it should not be a European institution. He uses the current dispute between the EU and Germany over EU legislation to ban tobacco advertising as an example of where such a court would be useful.
"In the tobacco case the problem was whether it was about economics law, competition law or health law. Such a case would be for the competence court as Germany disputed the EU’s competence in this matter".
Italians and Germans agree on not changing much, 25th August
EU Observer. The Italian and German governments have agreed to seek a quick adoption of the European Constitution, with as few changes as possible.
The agreement to limit the number of amendments made by governments when they pour over the document later this year is being seen as an attempt by Rome to place relations between the two countries on a better footing.
Meeting with his Italian counterpart on Saturday 23rd August in Verona the German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder spoke in favour of having the draft Constitution adopted without changes.
Pleased with the draft presented by the Convention on the Future of Europe Berlin is keen to see that the agreement is not watered down.
Whoever opens the packet, will not manage to seal it again, the German Chancellor warned. It looks like he has now secured Italian support, which will be essential. Under the leadership of the Italian EU presidency an Intergovernmental Conference, (IGC) will begin in Rome on 4 October to fine tune the draft EU constitution.
The Chair of the IGC, Mr Berlusconi on Saturday spoke of one, two or maximum three changes to the draft text.
Finnish Government keen to change the text, 26-29 August.
EU Observer. The Finnish Premier Matti Vanhanen said last Tuesday 27th August that Finland is likely to put forward some changes to the Constitutional draft agreed on by the Convention.
The Finnish government will decide its position on the draft EU Constitution next Friday, and will present a white paper, which will then be discussed by Parliament. A decision by the Finnish Parliament is expected in September.
Although he did not spell out what changes Finland might want to see to the draft Constitution, it has already been reported that Finland has a general opposition to having an elected EU president.
Finland joins Spain, the UK and other states in calling for substantial changes to the document. This has left the likes of Ireland, Germany and the Italian Presidency fearful that contentious issues agreed upon in the Convention will be reopened for debate, delaying plans to have the constitution signed between EU enlargement - in May - and elections to the European Parliament in June.
Germany against changing the text, 27th August
EurActiv. Germany’s Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer warned current and to-be EU governments not to endanger the success of the IGC on the EU Constitution by breaking the consensus.
"The basic principle must be: who opens the consensus is responsible for finding a new consensus," warned Joschka Fisher speaking at a news conference on an official visit to the Czech Republic.
Should the IGC fail, the EU will finds itself in "a very terrible situation," added Mr. Fisher referring to the intergovernmental conference, due to start on 4 October 2003, at which EU governments will discuss the Convention’s proposals on the new EU Constitution.
UK government sets up a website for public debate on the draft constitution.
Financial Times. Among the plans being drafted by UK Foreign Minister Jack Straw and Europe minister, Denis MacShane, are a standing parliamentary committee at Westminster to monitor IGC negotiations and an interactive website that would allow voters to ask questions and receive up-to-date online answers.
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT’S REPORTS
Constitutional Affairs Committee of the EP met to discuss European Constitution, Monday 25th August
EP press room. The European Parliament Committee on Constitutional Affairs and the Committee on Industry, External Trade, Research and Energy meet on Monday (25 August) and discuss the Draft Treaty on the European Constitution.
On 5th of August, the Constitutional Affairs Committee issued a provisional draft report on this issue by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado and Dimitris Tsatsos.
Important points of this provisional draft report:
The Committee urges the IGC to respect the consensus reached by the Convention, to avoid negotiations on the finely balanced solutions obtained by the Convention and to approve the draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe without any substantial changes;
It strongly welcomes the Italian Presidency’s assurance that the European Parliament will be closely and permanently involved in the IGC at both levels, Heads of State or Government and Foreign Affairs Ministers, and supports its intention to close the conference by December 2003;
Debate in the EP, 3rd September
EP press room. On Wednesday the 3rd September from 10.30am the EP will hold a debate on the European Convention. Valéry GISCARD D’ESTAING, President of the Convention will open the debate. (The European Convention completed its work on 10 July 2003).
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