Race against time” “

The work of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), inaugurated in Rome on 4 October, ought to approve the final text of the European Constitution in good time to be able to sign the new constitutional Treaty prior to the elections of the Strasbourg Parliament next June. Bearing in mind that a minimum two months will be needed to prepare the document in the various languages of the Union, the work of the IGC could be prolonged to February 2004 at the latest. But will the problems have been solved by then? Meanwhile the decision of Ecofin to avoid procedures and sanctions against France and Germany for excessive public deficit risks compromising the work so far carried out. Voices from the four corners of Europe. The “conclave” of EU Foreign Ministers scheduled for Naples on Friday 28 and Saturday 29 November should resolve many doubts, also thanks to a working document announced by the current Italian Presidency of the Union. Elmar Brok and Klaus Hänsch, the European Parliament representatives to the Icg, believe that the draft compromise put forward by the Italian Presidency “seems at first sight to be balanced and very close to the text drawn up by the European Convention. The presidency has kept its word and respected the principle that the consensus achieved by the Convention cannot be replaced except by another consensus”. Two questions in particular stand in the foreground: the “symbols” of the Union and budgetary powers. EU symbols and budgetary powers. As regards the former, the request is precise: “The objective to ensure that the text of the Constitution be intelligible to the citizen demands that they [the symbols] be inserted in the first part”, as called for by the Convention. From this point of view there should be no problem: the blue flag with the circle of twelve stars, the Ode to Joy and perhaps the indication of the euro and the designation of 9 May (day of the Schuman Declaration, act one of the history of the EU) as a European holiday ought to find a place in the first articles of the Constitution. The financial provisions and the budgetary powers are the second problem raised by Brok and Hänsch, especially in the light of the attempt by Ecofin to wrest powers from the EP in this sector. Such a hypothesis would – they say – “seriously place in question the traditional budgetary powers of the Parliament”, making “a nonsense of any concertation between the two branches of budgetary authority”, the European Council and the Parliament itself. In this eventuality the two German politicians promise to give battle and warn of the EP’s possible rejection of the whole constitutional Treaty. Christian roots, role of culture. Mary McAleese, President of Ireland – her country will hold the reins of the Union during the next semester of the revolving Presidency – intervened at the last session of the EP and touched on the question of the “Christian roots” of Europe. She declared her “commitment to their explicit recognition in the text of the Constitution”. The risk of the possible failure of the IGC was commented on, in turn, by German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in recent days. “At Nice – he explained – we had met to prepare the institutions for the enlargement of the Union. But we failed. And that’s why it was decided to hold the Convention”. So Fischer indicated the path of fidelity to the text of the Convention as the best way of concluding the IGC successfully and in time. EU Commissioner for Culture, Viviane Reding, from Luxembourg, explained that “the place of education and culture in the draft Treaty that emerged from the work of the Convention has been confirmed” and said she was satisfied by the “essential and decisive character recognized to cultural diversities and sport in the construction of the identity of the Europe of the future”.