20 December 2002 Edition
Laeken Declaration bypasses Nice
BY ROBBIE MacGABHANN
The Dublin Government has three seats on the convention. Wouldn't it be interesting if they agreed to give one seat to the No campaign, and one to a Six-County representative?
"Citizens believe that the EU is behaving too bureaucratically...What they expect is more results, better responses to practical issues and not a European Superstate....Citizens are calling for a clear, open, effective and democratically controlled Community". These were just some of the highlights of the Laeken Declaration agreed by EU leaders in Belguim last week.
The summit agreed a review of the EU's institutions, to make them more effective and democratic. However, they also declared the 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force to be "operational", as well as haggling over where the locations of the proposed new EU agencies, for areas such as food, safety authorities and other bodies such as Agencies for Information Exchange on Visas, External Border Surveillance and the Asylum and Migration Observatory would be.
Former French President Giscard d'Estaing is to head up a constitutional convention which could lead to an EU constitution. Its first meeting is scheduled for next March. The convention will be made up of representatives of the 15 member states and from the 13 applicant states.
For the first time ever, elected representatives from member state parliaments and MEPs will sit along with EU Commission officials to debate and draft the convention's proposals. Though such a broadening of debate within the EU about its future is in reality a small step, it shows how much opposition and disenchantment there is within the EU 15 member states.
It also vindicates conclusively the No campaign's platform in the Nice Treaty referendum last June. Many of the issues raised by the No campaign, such as the undemocratic nature of the EU, the lack of transparency, the fear of an EU superstate, the failure of the EU to tackle issues like unemployment, poverty, social exclusion and environmental issues will persist.
The drawback, to the Laeken Declaration, is that it also very clearly makes the case for the EU's emergence as a political superpower in the post-Cold War era and asks, "Does Europe not, now that it is finally unified, have a leading role to play in a new world order".
The issue of vetoes, qualified majority voting, control over economic policy, tax and spending is also bound to come up at the convention, but it will be interesting to see if the EU is really prepared to let a debate emerge on these issues.
Also vitally important is what will happen after the convention drafts its proposals. The 26 Counties was the only EU member state that held, or will hold, a referendum on the Nice Treaty. If the other 14 EU member states are really interested in the outcomes of the proposed convention, then they must commit themselves to holding fair referenda in each state.
Interestingly, the Nice Treaty only merited the smallest of mentions in the news reports on the Laeken summit. Bertie Ahern declared that all the EU member states, including the 26 Counties, will have ratified the Nice Treaty by the end of 2002, even though the proposed constitutional convention and the Intergovernmental Conference that comes after will effectively bypass Nice.
Finally, the Dublin Government has three seats on the convention. Wouldn't it be interesting if they agreed to give one seat to the No campaign, and one to a Six-County representative? Then we could really believe that the Dublin Government was willing to debate the issues of what would be the best Europe for all?
The Dublin Government has three seats on the convention. Wouldn't it be interesting if they agreed to give one seat to the No campaign, and one to a Six-County representative?
"Citizens believe that the EU is behaving too bureaucratically...What they expect is more results, better responses to practical issues and not a European Superstate....Citizens are calling for a clear, open, effective and democratically controlled Community". These were just some of the highlights of the Laeken Declaration agreed by EU leaders in Belguim last week.
The summit agreed a review of the EU's institutions, to make them more effective and democratic. However, they also declared the 60,000-strong Rapid Reaction Force to be "operational", as well as haggling over where the locations of the proposed new EU agencies, for areas such as food, safety authorities and other bodies such as Agencies for Information Exchange on Visas, External Border Surveillance and the Asylum and Migration Observatory would be.
Former French President Giscard d'Estaing is to head up a constitutional convention which could lead to an EU constitution. Its first meeting is scheduled for next March. The convention will be made up of representatives of the 15 member states and from the 13 applicant states.
For the first time ever, elected representatives from member state parliaments and MEPs will sit along with EU Commission officials to debate and draft the convention's proposals. Though such a broadening of debate within the EU about its future is in reality a small step, it shows how much opposition and disenchantment there is within the EU 15 member states.
It also vindicates conclusively the No campaign's platform in the Nice Treaty referendum last June. Many of the issues raised by the No campaign, such as the undemocratic nature of the EU, the lack of transparency, the fear of an EU superstate, the failure of the EU to tackle issues like unemployment, poverty, social exclusion and environmental issues will persist.
The drawback, to the Laeken Declaration, is that it also very clearly makes the case for the EU's emergence as a political superpower in the post-Cold War era and asks, "Does Europe not, now that it is finally unified, have a leading role to play in a new world order".
The issue of vetoes, qualified majority voting, control over economic policy, tax and spending is also bound to come up at the convention, but it will be interesting to see if the EU is really prepared to let a debate emerge on these issues.
Also vitally important is what will happen after the convention drafts its proposals. The 26 Counties was the only EU member state that held, or will hold, a referendum on the Nice Treaty. If the other 14 EU member states are really interested in the outcomes of the proposed convention, then they must commit themselves to holding fair referenda in each state.
Interestingly, the Nice Treaty only merited the smallest of mentions in the news reports on the Laeken summit. Bertie Ahern declared that all the EU member states, including the 26 Counties, will have ratified the Nice Treaty by the end of 2002, even though the proposed constitutional convention and the Intergovernmental Conference that comes after will effectively bypass Nice.
Finally, the Dublin Government has three seats on the convention. Wouldn't it be interesting if they agreed to give one seat to the No campaign, and one to a Six-County representative? Then we could really believe that the Dublin Government was willing to debate the issues of what would be the best Europe for all?