12 February 2007

Feb 12th - 15th 2007 Strasbourg Commentary

Strasbourg Commentary Feb 12th - 15th 2007 The revised constitution rears its ugly head. The parliament president, Pottering, in his inaugural speech clearly said,- We must have a unified Europe... a new departure after the civil wars of the 20th century... media must spread the message....need a European House of History.... the constitution like all Treaties MUST BE OBEYED! Obey and Media to be used for propaganda, - where have we heard all this before? Timing of the revised constitution, from the Ind-Dem Secretary General,- Dinner of Heads of State and Government + Barroso and Poettering, March 8th when they expect the decision on the declaration will be taken. We will know by then whether all 27 member states are supposed to sign, or only the presidents of the 3 institutions. As soon as he is sure of about 95% of the content, Poettering will call for an extraordinary CoP and ask for a mandate. Parliament will have to discuss it (with or without the draft text) during the March plenary in Strasbourg, but without resolution. A signing session? Not sure, because of the need that all 27 have to agree and the document is of two pages maximum with four elements,- * history: thanks to Eu- integration we have peace and prosperity * values : freedom, solidarity, human dignity, tolerance * challenges: economic, social, political solidarity, sustainability, immigration, * transition to the next stage: not say how to proceed but a commitment to proceed with target date. It was said that the transition period for the parliament (i.e. where EP has to make up his mind), lasts (only?) till June summit. The only thing we can do now is wait until Poettering calls for a CoP in order to look at the text that the 8th March dinner is expected to produce.... Jens-Peter Bonde says that the document will be presented a short while before the summit but with a paragraph missing. That para will already have been written and will be presented immediately prior to signing. It is not intended that member states will then ratify the constitution, except Ireland whose own constitution requires a referendum, just the signatures of Presidents / Prime Ministers; all done and dusted. France and Holland will sign, there will be a new French President by then. Holland will only just have elected a new parliament and their prime Minister will have been in office a week! So what about Tony Blair's promise of a referendum? Answer,- will he still be in office then? If not, I didn't hear Gordon Brown promise a referendum, did you? Does anything about these timings strike you? Derek Clark MEP Strasbourg Feb15th 2007

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