” “"The debate about the future of the EU", "the process of ratification of the Constitution and the further extension" of the EU boundaries: this is the first item on the agenda of the Finnish presidency of the Council of Europe that will begin tomorrow, July 1st, to last until December 31st 2006. The program will be illustrated next Wednesday to the EU Parliament in Strasbourg, by Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen. Who, about the Constitution, stated in front of the Parliament in Helsinki that "it is high time we moved on, from reflection to actual results". And, pending the enforcement of the Charter, "the EU shall be made to work better, under the existing treaties". In addition, the agenda of the Scandinavian government includes the competitiveness of the European companies and the role of the EU on the global scenario as well as the assessment of the The Hague Program on justice and security (an extraordinary meeting has already been planned for September in Tampere). The Foreign Minister, Erkki Tuomioja, recalled that "in September, Finland will be the sixteenth country to ratify the EU Constitution". Tuomioja himself said he does not like to "unwrap" the Constitution (i.e. to enforce just some of its points, pending the ratification) and stated that, if something should change, the name should have to be changed as well: "We would be happy to call it something else, but this is of course a minor problem".” “
