European constitution
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
On 18 July 2003, the final draft of the constitutional treaty (officially Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe) for the European Union was published by the Praesidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe.
The objectives of the draft Constitution are, mainly, to simplify the overlapping series of Treaties and Protocols providing the current legal constitution for Europe, and to enhance the functioning of the future Union when 10 new countries from Eastern Europe join the existing 15 member states on 1 May 2004 (see EU enlargement).
Compared to many existing constitutions, e.g. the US constitution at about 4,600 words, it is very long at 265 pages and over 60,000 words. This is still, however, considerably shorter than the existing treaties it will consolidate.
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2 Ratification process 3 Structure of the Draft EU Constitution 4 Other European Union topics 5 External links |
Proposed provisions of the draft
New, possibly contentious
- A president of the European Council elected by signatory governments and Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), rather than being selected on a rotating basis as at present.
- Convergence in foreign policy (pg 16/Article 15, pg 159/Chapter II) subject to certain conditions, and election of a Union minister for Foreign affairs (pg 26, Article 27).
- Clear assignments of responsibility (pg 181/title VI and throughout the document, e.g. pg139/III-169) to the institutions of the EU. In particular, the principle of subsidiarity (pg 18, Article 19 and "Protocol on..." pg 232) will be 'locked'.
- An increased role for national parliaments and the European Parliament (rather than just the EU council) in the scrutiny of draft EU legislation.
- A more democratic and simplified decision process (pg 156/Article III-191, pg 158/Article III-194, pg181/title VI) in the Council of Ministers (pg 185/subsection 3) (compared to the current situation).
- Adjustments to some terminology to make it easier to understand (e.g. 'European Regulation' becomes 'European law', 'European Directive' becomes 'European framework law').
Possible assertions These are not clear from the text itself and require some explanation.
- Introduction of majority votes in many fields of politics
- A full and official written piece about how to leave the EU.
Ratification process
In order for a proposed constitution to take effect, each member state would be required to ratify it. Ratification would take different forms depending on the constitutions and political processes of members states. Ireland's own constitution, for example, insists a referendum be held on all international treaties, while Germany's constitution prohibits referenda.
Many other countries are expected to see the constitution as a significant change and will hold a referendum on the subject. On April 20, 2004, the British Prime Minister Tony Blair surprisingly announced that the treaty would be subject to a referendum in the United Kingdom. See British referendum on the European constitution.
Structure of the Draft EU Constitution
Click the title to see the structure of the draft, with notes and links.
Other European Union topics
External links
- Draft Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (18.07.2003) (direct PDF download)
- The European Constitution (academic site with links to many documents relating to this and previous treaties)
- Summary and politicians' reactions to the then newly released draft from The Guardian (Monday May 26, 2003)
- Summary of the then newly released draft by the BBC (Tuesday, 27 May, 2003)
- Discussion of Council of Ministers voting strengths
- Population and Votes in the Council of Ministers (alternate proposals)