IGC" "
The work of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), called to adopt the Constitution for the enlarged Europe, is due to officially open in Rome on Saturday 4th October. The last meeting of the general affairs Council confirmed the atmosphere of growing tension between the delegations: in its role as chairman of the IGC, Italy has had to remind all countries that the method of the Conference will be based on the principle of “constructive dissent”, which permits governments to propose amendments to Giscard’s draft only if the alternatives enjoy unanimous support. Doubts however have been expressed on various sides not only about whether it will be possible to reach an agreement by the end of the year, but even whether it will be possible to sign the new Treaty by the spring of 2004. Thus Belgium, contrary both to a popular referendum for the ratification of the Constitution and to any explicit reference to Christianity in the Preamble, thinks that a political compromise is “illusory”. The President of the Czech Republic, Vaclav Klaus, has also severely criticised the Convention, guilty in his view of wanting to create a “European superstate” that “would eliminate sovereign states and national parliaments”. No less harsh has been the judgement of Poland, which heads a group composed of 15 states (the candidate countries plus Austria and Finland) and of the European Commission in favour of the maintenance of one Commissioner per member state. Moreover, Poland, and especially Spain, are contrary to the double qualified majority system for the vote in Council (majority of the states and 60% of the population), and defend the weighted voting system endorsed by the Treaty of Nice. And if Greece insists that the new Treaty should give ample scope to the integration of European defence, both Italy and the Commission have expressed the wish for a shared commitment aimed at turning European defence policy into the second pillar of NATO. For their part, the European Parliament and the Committee for the Regions have approved two documents in support of the draft constitution drawn up by the Convention. The so-called ‘big’ members are also aligned in favour of Giscard’s draft, but while the UK wants to maintain unanimity on tax, defence and foreign policy, France and Germany have confirmed the need to avoid any radical overhaul of the basic text, warning the “too demanding candidate countries” that “excessive demands could lead to the allocation of Structural Funds to the countries of enlargement being reopened to discussion”.
