Merkel seeks treaty giving EU more powers by 2009
Monday, 26 March 2007
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Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has seized the initiative over the European constitution by outlining ambitious plans to clinch an end-of-year deal on a fresh treaty that would include new powers for the EU.
Ms Merkel used celebrations for the 50th birthday of the EU yesterday to speed up the timetable for salvaging parts of a constitution that has been in limbo since French and Dutch voters rejected it in a referendum in 2005.
A summit in Berlin paved the way for an inter-governmental conference - the only body that can re-write the EU's rule book - that could be wound up by the end of the year. That would enable each of the 27 nations to ratify the new agreement next year, allowing it to come into force before the next European elections in 2009.
Ms Merkel, who holds the EU's rotating presidency, made it clear that she foresees a treaty giving the EU new powers over energy policy and one in which fewer decisions on justice and interior matters are subject to national vetoes.
EU leaders broadly backed the fast-track approach but remain divided on the content of the treaty which will take the place of the constitution. Britain has made it clear that it agrees with the timetable only so long as it involves a slimmed down text that does not trigger a referendum in the UK - though it has yet to lay down what this means.
The constitution would have reformed decision-making for an enlarged EU, creating a slimmer European Commission, a full time president of the European Council, where governments meet, an EU foreign minister and creating a voting system based on population size.
Tony Blair said that the reforms "need to be resolved", adding: "I think the sooner it is resolved the better, actually". But he also reminded supporters of the constitution that there were "two 'no' votes in France and Holland and we have to be realistic about that".
The Dutch government this week insisted a new treaty "must, in content, scope and name, convincingly differ" from the constitution. The Poles and Czechs are also sceptical and Ireland's premier, Bertie Ahern, called for a "dose of reality" around the table.
Ms Merkel's plan envisages a decision in June to open an inter-governmental conference in the second half of the year, when the Portuguese hold the rotating presidency of the EU.
"People feel we have to take a decision in June about a road map with a certain content - without prejudging anything in the IGC," she said. "We have often said that the IGC should ... be short and concentrated." As part of the celebrations, European leaders endorsed a three-page "Berlin Declaration" setting a mid-2009 deadline for establishing a "renewed common basis" for the EU, while leaving out the word "constitution".
Even though Ms Merkel is ready to drop the use of the "c" word when discussing the new treaty, the Chancellor faces acute difficulties in getting the agreement of all 27 member states on the contents of a new text.
The Polish President, Lech Kaczynski, said that ratifying a new treaty to reform European Union institutions in place of the stalled EU constitution in 2009 was "unachievable".
Berlin is hamstrung until France has elected a new president in May and faces the added difficulty of a change of premiership in Britain. The likely new prime minister, Gordon Brown, is generally more Eurosceptical than Mr Blair. Both the Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, and his Danish counterpart, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said that a deal by the end of the year was essential if the EU was to hit its 2009 deadline.
The Italian premier, Romano Prodi, said that Germany would press for a "very tight" calendar for negotiating a new treaty when the leaders next meet in June. Yesterday's meeting was held against the background of two days of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome, which gave birth to what became the EU. In her ceremonial speech, Ms Merkel recalled Britain's scepticism about the prospects of European integration in the run-up to the signing of the treaty.
She quoted a British official, Russell Bretherton, who is reported to have told a key meeting in Messina: "The future treaty you are discussing has no chance of being agreed: if it was agreed, it would have no chance of being ratified; and if it was ratified, it would have no chance of being applied."
