Germans face pressure to revive EU treaty
Pastor Dale Morgan
Germans face pressure to revive EU treaty*
· Chancellor to sound out leaders over constitution
· Netherlands says move ignores views of 'no' voters
Nicholas Watt, David Gow and Will Woodward in Brussels
Saturday December 16, 2006
The Guardian
European leaders yesterday rekindled the debate on the EU constitution
and found themselves heading for a bruising battle over whether to
revive the project, which has been in cold storage since its rejection
by French and Dutch voters in 2005.
Spain and Luxembourg stirred things up when they called for the 18
countries that have ratified the constitution to hold meetings early
next year.
"We are getting bigger, but we also need to get better," the Spanish
prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said.
Madrid and Luxembourg are hoping to persuade Germany, which has ratified
the constitution, to save the measure during a formal review to be
launched when Berlin assumes the EU's rotating presidency on January 1.
The initiative met with a hostile response from the Netherlands, a
crucial voice because Dutch voters rejected the measure in a referendum
last year. The Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, said the
initiative ignored those who voted no. "The charter in its current form
is unacceptable," he said at the EU summit in Brussels. "This [plan]
should not be allowed to gather momentum."
Berlin hopes to set out a timetable on how the EU will reform its inner
workings by the time Portugal takes over the presidency on July 1. But
the timing and the political climate in Europe will make that difficult.
No real progress can be made until France elects a new president in May,
weeks before the EU summit in June, when Berlin hopes to set out a
timetable. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, will use her grand
coalition to put out feelers to the frontrunners. SPD ministers will
talk to the Socialist candidate, Ségolène Royal, and CDU ministers to
the likely centre-right candidate, Nicolas Sarkozy.
Even if those talks go well EU countries are sharply divided. Mr Sarkozy
is arguing for a mini-treaty that would include the main institutional
changes in the constitution, including a change to national voting
strengths, an end to the rotating presidency, the creation of an EU
foreign minister and an elected president of the European council.
Other countries say the constitution will unravel if it is unpicked.
Britain will be wary of anything that fails to mention elements it
pressed for, notably a commitment to the EU's free-market goals, which
upset French voters.
Mrs Merkel said the pro-constitution countries should not be ignored.
But she did not say whether German ministers would attend the first
meeting in Madrid on January 26, playing down any chance of a
breakthrough. "I would advise us all not to put each other under
pressure ... we will enter this presidency with realistic expectations
but wish to bring the EU a little bit forward," she said.
Mrs Merkel said the EU could not continue to enlarge - a key British
goal - until it dealt with institutional changes.