From: Marc-Oliver Pahl (info@mopahl.de)
Date: Sat May 24 2003 - 16:24:52 CEST
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EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - A complete version of the draft European constitution to be tabled on Monday
will not contain crucial revised articles on the division of power between the EU institutions.
A spokesperson said that Convention president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's inner team felt that it
would not be the
right moment to publish the text on these issues – which include the controversial question of
whether there should be a permanent president of the EU.
The Convention's presidium met Friday for the third consecutive day this week. The 13-member team,
including
its president, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, have been trying to iron out the last considerable
differences before production of the first complete draft of the constitution.
However, the 13-strong body remain extremely split on the issue - with Mr Giscard himself being
strongly in favour of a permanent president.
We do not need a European foreign minister
More oil was poured in the institutional fire, when UK foreign minister Denis MacShane said to the
Berliner Zeitung today "we do not need a European foreign minister."
His remarks come despite quite obviously broad support for the creation of such a post in the
Convention's plenary session on insitutions a week ago.
The Convention spokesman denied that Mr Giscard spends a disproportionate amount of his time
listening to what the UK has to say.
No religion - for the moment
The constitution's preamble has also been postponed - nearly as controversial in its own right, it
is likely to contain a reference to Europe's spiritual heritage - but the extent of this reference
and whether there should be an explicit reference to God, has not been decided for the moment.
"We have started to work on the preamble but we have not yet finished", said Nikolaus Meyer Landrut
diplomatically of the splits.
Federal by any other name
As for the word federal - another bane of the British government - this has been removed from the
first article - indeed at Tony Blair's request, and replaced with "communatarian" which "to all
intents and purposes is the same" remarked one commentator.
However, in the normal backroom trading of things - "an ever closer Union" in the current treaty
preamble will be kept - and not scrapped as has previously been agreed.
Publication in parts
The complete draft of the constitution will be released in parts - the constitutional part plus
protocols on subsidiarity (the right for member states to act when it cannot be done better at
community level) and national parliaments.
The second part, on policies, the Charter of Fundamental Rights and final provisions, will be
published on Tuesday.
The whole text, which will be over 250 articles, will form the basis for discussion in the
Convention's plenary session on 30-31 May - with the institutional part to be debated in the
following session on 4-6 June.
The Constitutional Treaty must be ready for the EU summit in Thessaloniki, 20 June.
Written by Honor Mahony
Edited by Lisbeth Kirk
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