Economy & Trade, Europe, Headlines

POLITICS-EU: Leaders Face Tough Questions Over Future

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jun 13 2005 (IPS) - European leaders face one of the bloc’s greatest challenges later this week when they meet to thrash out the future of the bloc during a crucial EU summit.

European Union (EU) leaders will decide whether to abandon the process of ratifying the European Union’s first-ever constitution during a two-day summit beginning in Brussels Thursday (Jun. 16), following two weeks of political turmoil sparked off the rejection of the EU constitution by France and the Netherlands – two of the bloc’s founder states – in referendums May 29 and Jun. 1.

Since some 55 percent of French people and 62 percent of Dutch voted against the treaty, other EU member states have been reluctant to press ahead with the ratification process.

Britain has already frozen the process of preparing a referendum, while surveys in Portugal, Poland and Denmark have also shown a major slump.

Even in Luxembourg, which is planning to hold its referendum July 10, the size of the “no” vote has risen to 45 percent from 28 percent while the “yes” camp’s share has dwindled to 55 percent from 72 percent since April, according to reports.

In light of such negative forecasts EU leaders will be forced to review the future of both the constitution and the bloc itself.

Some leaders may push for member states to go ahead with votes anyway in order to see what the final balance of opinion is, while others might call for an indefinite delay in ratification in the hope that something can be worked out later.

Britain has already indicated that it wants all member states to agree at their summit that this treaty is dead and that there is no point in carrying on with it. The French and the Germans, along with the European Commission (the EU executive) and the European Parliament want everyone to vote so that the final tally of opinion is known.

But leaders will have to accept that the treaty cannot be implemented as it requires all 25 member states to ratify it.

John Palmer, political director of the Brussels-based European Policy Centre (EPC) says the whole process will have to start again. “There will have to be another treaty,” he told media representatives last week. “This will be needed in two or three years.”

But Sebastian Kurpas, research fellow at the Centre for European Political Studies (CEPS) think-tank believes the most likely scenario in the medium term is a ‘treaty of Nice Plus’ or the ‘cherry-picking’ approach which would envisage that certain elements are taken from the constitutional treaty which might not need ratification, and are politically undisputed. The treaty of Nice that came into force Feb. 1, 2003 sets out EU principles for enlargement of the bloc.

Kurpas insists that simply burying the constitutional treaty and continuing on the basis of the Nice treaty with some cosmetic changes is not an option if politicians intend to take the massive criticism on the current state of the Union into account.

“Whatever option is taken, ratification should only be stopped for good if there is an alternative on the table that is on the one hand potentially acceptable to all member states and on the other hand ambitious enough to provide for a more efficient and democratic functioning of the enlarged EU-25,” he said.

Many non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are demanding that EU leaders put in place a system of “participatory democracy” which allows citizens to be consulted about EU issues at local, regional, national, and the European level.

They say the referenda results in France and the Netherlands demonstrate the lack of connection between citizens and political leaders, the lack of a common vision and the lack of a strong democratic foundation to debate the future of the EU.

Social Platform, a group which represents European social organisations, is urging member states to respond by mandating the European Commission to develop a joint strategy that will address both information, and participation of citizens.

“Social NGOs believe it is a challenge Europe cannot afford to ignore if we are to create a Union which reflects the expectations and needs of its peoples,” Anne-Sophie Parent, president of Social Platform told IPS Monday (Jun. 13).

“Unfortunately the debate on the Constitutional Treaty became dominated by institutional reform rather than the objectives of the Union, and insufficient attention was placed on the democratic challenge facing Europe. This mistake cannot be repeated.”

As well as the question of the constitutional debate, the atmosphere ahead of the summit has become more tense because of the continuing dispute between Britain and its EU partners over its budget rebate of 4.6 billion euros (5.5 billion dollars) a year. That is the money that Britain gets back from EU coffers after making its contributions.

EU leaders, led by French President Jacques Chirac, want Britain to give way on its rebate, but British Prime Minister Tony Blair says he will not renegotiate without a major review of the EU’s long-disputed spending system of generous farm subsidies, which gives annual farm subsidies of 10.4 billion euros (12.5 billion dollars) to French farmers.

Smaller EU states, in particular the new poorer countries in central Europe which joined the bloc last May, say the rebate is outdated given Britain’s booming economy.

Britain won the rebate in 1984 after tough negotiations by then prime minister Margaret Thatcher.