EU Constitution
- Convention of the Future of Europe, working on the EU Constitution (Photo: European Convention)
The Convention on the Future of Europe had drafted an EU Constitution to replace the existing EU and EC treaties. The text was agreed upon by 'consensus' in the Convention June 13 2003. No voting took place. It was presented by Giscard d´Estaing to the heads of governments and states at the Thessaloniki Summit (Greece) on 20th June 2003 - with a minority report from the eurocritical intergroup, Democracy Forum, attached.
The Constitutional Treaty is divided into four parts:
- Part I: Objectives, values, institutions, competences finances, etc. of the Union.
- Part II: Charter of Fundamental Rights
- Part III: Assembles and amends the present EU and EC Treaties.
- Part IV: Final provisions
At present, a country can only leave the EU according to international law or/and after a unanimous decision (or by breaching EU law). The EU Constitution has a clause allowing Member States to leave after negotiating an agreement with the EU or on their own accord after two years.
Notes
- The word constitution is used 23 times in the first 17 articles of the EU Constitution.
Future
As the text was rejected by Dutch and French referendums in May/June 2005, a new IGC was given a mandate for drafting a new treaty in June 2007. On the occasion of the European Council meeting in Lisbon 13 December 2007, European leaders agreed upon the Lisbon Treaty amending the two basic European treaties, the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty Establishing the European Community.
Links
See Consitution and Lisbon Treaty
http://european-convention.eu.int/DraftTreaty.asp?lang=EN
The readerfriendly version can be downloaded at: http://euabc.com/upload/rfConstitution_en.pdf
The Minority Report: http://www.eddgroup.com/index.phtml?sid=114&aid=11816
"Alternative Report - THE EUROPE OF DEMOCRACIES" (Annex III. to the "Report from the Presidency of the Convention to the President of the European Council", of 18.7.2003, p. 21-24): http://europa.eu.int/futurum/d......ments/contrib/doc180703_en.pdf
