Condemned to success?” “

Timetable and methods. “We are condemned to success”. Pat Cox, the Irish President of the European Parliament, could not have been clearer or more decided in defining the main objective of the Intergovernmental Conference, inaugurated in Rome on Saturday 4 October. “We must achieve a constitutional Treaty for the Union. There is no alternative, unless we compromise the future itself of the process of integration”. The work of the IGC opened amid resounding declarations of principle, explicit willingness for dialogue, but also renewed expressions of dissatisfaction about the draft Constitution produced by the Convention. “We need to clarify, without destroying, the work of the Convention” – added Cox. And Gerhard Schroeder, German Chancellor, echoed his remarks: “Anyone who maintains that it is necessary to amend the draft presented by Giscard d’Estaing is obliged to clarify what innovations he would like to insert and at the same time is bound to seek consensus in support of such positions”. For his part, Tony Blair, British premier, summed up his expectorations as follows: “What must emerge from the Conference is the European common good, which is superior to the sum of national interests”. At this point two questions are posed: the first is about the IGC’s “method of work”, the second about its timetable. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, to whom is entrusted the “direction” of the Council (since Italy holds its current six months’ Presidency) and of the Conference as a whole, had ever since its first day maintained that “the IGC is opening in a climate of extreme collaboration, with high-profile interventions”. Frattini then stressed that, if citizens are to be involved in this phase of defining the Constitution, what’s needed is a frank and transparent debate in which each European may be kept informed about the positions supported by the States”. The same need for collaboration was posed anew with regard to the timetable of the IGC: on the eve of the inaugural meeting in Rome, the Italian government, together with those of the “big” member-states (France, Germany, Great Britain), had insisted on closing the question by December, so that the new Treaty could be signed in Rome in May 2004, before the elections for the renewal of the European Parliament. But, given the re-surfacing at the IGC of the perplexities that had emerged about the draft signed by Giscard, prudence gained the upper hand. Thus the current President of the European Council, Silvio Berlusconi, hastened to explain that he did not consider “dramatic the possible continuation of the work during the first half of 2004, under the Irish Presidency”. But he did underline the desire that “the signing of the new Treaty should take place in Rome, like that of the founding Treaties of the EEC in 1957”. The objections. The inaugural day of the IGC brought to light the growing dissatisfaction in recent weeks with the draft Constitution produced by the Convention. In actual fact the draft had been considered a “good” or even “excellent” point of departure for the IGC by several countries. Despite that, at the IGC in Rome, the medium and small countries asked for more influence (the Spanish premier José Maria Aznar and his Polish counterpart Leszek Miller) and equal dignity (see the letter sent to Berlusconi by the political leaders of Austria, Finland, Lithuania, Malta, Czech Republic, Slovenia and Hungary). “It must be possible for States to raise all the questions they consider important within the IGC”: with this message it was clear that the draft Constitution would never be approved as a foregone conclusion, without further discussion. To this should be added the repeated request of some states (icluding Italy, Spain and Poland) for a clear reference to the “Christian roots” of the continent to be inserted in the Preamble of the Constitution. Also in Rome, Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission in Brussels, once again placed in discussion every decision regarding the functioning of the institutions in a Europe enlarged to twenty-five “members”. Speaking on the margins of the first meeting of the IGC, Prodi recalled “the need to clarify the procedure for constitutional revision, that cannot be decreed by unanimity, if the nascent European Constitution is not to be crippled or even killed; also on the agenda – he said – is the problem of the reduction of the unanimous vote in the European Council, to prevent the veto of just one single state blocking the progress of the EU in important sectors such as foreign policy, defence and taxation. Another problem to be solved – added Prodi – is that relating to the composition of the Commission: we stress the need for a seat on the Commission to be given to each member-state”. Values and culture. The summit of the heads of state and of government of the EU also provided an opportunity to reflect on the fundamental values round which the Europe of the future should be constructed. In his introductory address, the current President of the Council, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, declared: “The real identity of Europe is not defined by a geography of shifting frontiers. Nor is it defined by a political history too often determined by intestine wars and tragic events. The real identity of Europe is defined by its “culture”. It is our culture that has given all us Europeans our moral values, our democratic institutions, our art, our literature, our science and our technology. It has given us our identity”. Berlusconi then added, to the approbation of European leaders: “Being Europeans has meant and still means today sharing a common culture, a common heritage of values and civilization”. The protagonists of the IGC then approved a joint Declaration, in which they affirm: “The heads of state and of government of the member countries, those in the process of joining and the candidates of the European Union, the President of the European Parliament, and the President of the Commission, reaffirm that the process of European integration represents the essential vocation of our continent and the principal means of ensuring a more effective role for the Union on the international stage and of reinforcing peace, democracy, prosperity and solidarity in all member-states”. The Declaration of Rome also declares that “the adoption of a constitutional Treaty will represent a fundamental stage in the process aimed at making Europe more cohesive and more influential, more transparent and democratic, more efficient and closer to citizens, inspired by the wish to promote universal values especially through cooperation with the multilateral international organizations and confirming the need for a firm transatlantic relation between equals”.