European Union" "
The President of the “Group for the Europe of democracies and differences of the European Parliament, as well as member of the Convention, the Danish Jens-Peter Bonde, put out a communiqué in recent days in which he states that “ a confidential document of the Secretariat of the Convention traces the guidelines of a European Constitution. In the ‘non paper’ continues the communiqué the term “basic treaty” is used, but it would be more correct to call it a Constitution”. Bonde concludes by stressing that, according to this document, “the Union will have the capacity to act just like a State in matters of foreign affairs and be endowed with common citizenship and fundamental rights. Functions will be divided as within a federal State. The spokesman of the Convention, Nikolaus Meyer-Landrut, categorically denied, however, that the document circulated by Bonde is the work of the Secretariat or the Presidium, explaining that “the president of the Convention has no knowledge of it”. The text diffused by Bonde speaks of two options, respectively an independent basic treaty that safeguards the existing treaties, or a basic treaty that would constitute the preamble to a single treaty derived from the amalgamation of the various existing treaties. The “scheme” proposed by the “non paper” tackles eleven points: nature of the European Union: objectives and fundamental principles of the EU, with possible integration in the Treaty of the Charter of Rights; functions; citizenship; provisions regarding the reform of the EC institutions; decision-making procedures and juridical instruments; jurisdictional control: budgets and finances; accords between the EU and third States or international Organizations; reinforced cooperation; general and final provisions. Meanwhile Romano Prodi has presented some proposals for a better organization of the European Commission in view of the enlargement of the Commission from the current 20 to 30 commissioners, following the entry of the candidate countries expected to take place in 2004.
