Constitution, the idea, the ideas” “

The process of European integration, the difficulties encountered, the future European constitutional treaty: we spoke about these issues with Ingolf Pernice , professor of European public law at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Professor Pernice, what point has been reached by the process of European integration? “We’ve reached an historic point. The time has come to make citizens understand that Europe is something that concerns them directly and not just a question for the governments of member states. The process going on in the Convention on the future of Europe is public and shows citizens that it’s possible to participate in the drafting of the future European constitution”. In your judgment, what characteristics should the future European constitutional treaty have? “The European constitution ought to represent a complement to the national constitutions, i.e. we ought to have a single system composed of two parts: the national constitutions and the European constitutional treaty. The problem we face today is how to reformulate and revise the existing treaties in order to incorporate them in a text more consonant with the common idea of a constitution”. Will the process of European integration have an influence on the constitutional systems of the member states? “Undoubtedly European integration will leave its mark on the constitutions of the member states. This is a process of ‘multilevel constitutionalism’, in which the citizens of the member states will develop, through their respective governments, a supranational public authority, invested with original powers to tackle the challenges and meet the objectives that the states cannot pursue by themselves alone”. In practice, what impact will there be on the national political systems? “There’ll be a permanent redistribution of functions and powers not only with the revision of the Treaties but also with their implementation both in the European institutions and in the national authorities. The work of the Convention on the future of Europe, established by the Laeken declaration in December 2001, will lead not only to a revision of the existing Treaties, with a view to the drafting of the future European constitution or constitutional treaty, but will also involve a modification of the national constitutions”. In your view, is this process of any interest to people or does it concern governments alone? “I think that the process of the Convention would be more immediately present to everyone if we had a more democratic European system. It’s indispensable that the responsibilities of the institutions and persons that govern the Union be more transparent for citizens, who must be enabled to judge the real role played by their representatives and administrators in Europe, so as to be able to ask for their replacement if they fail to do their job well”. Is the process of European integration also being hampered by the divisions that emerge between member states on important issues, such as a possible attack on Iraq? “Divergences of opinion, such as that on a war with Iraq, do not hamper the process of integration, but they do demonstrate the need for a European voice at the international level. When Schroeder voices his opposition to a war in Iraq, the question remains restricted to relations between Germany and the USA; but when it’s Europe as a whole that is favourable or opposed to war, this declaration has a very different impact”. Gigliola Alfaro