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Andrew

Drafting the future of Europe

This article first appeared in the East Anglian Daily Times on 27th Feb 2002

Today (Thursday) an extraordinary event takes place at the European Parliament in Brussels. A great Convention on the Future of Europe opens under the chairmanship of former French president Valery Giscard d'Estaing. It has 105 members, of which I am privileged to be one. Its purpose is to draft the new constitution of the European Union for agreement by the heads of government in 2004.

What we in the Convention need to know is what should be the powers of the Union, who should exercise them, and how. Our constitution will then set out the values and purposes of the Union, define clearly its principal powers, and describe how its institutions work.

Although it has done well to drop earlier objections to the setting up of the Convention, the British government arrives at its start somewhat out of breath. Last week, Jack Straw, in The Hague, admitted for the first time that a greater pooling of sovereignty and more voting in the Council are necessary if we are to enhance the capability of the enlarging Union to act forcefully at home and abroad. He even ventured that the Court of Justice becomes more obviously a federal supreme court. This week, in a letter with Chancellor Schroeder, Tony Blair conceded that the Council should meet in public when it passes law. All this amounts to a reversal of traditional British European policy, and is most welcome.

British ministers now need to catch up with the mainstream debate about EuropeÕs developing post-national parliamentary democracy. They should drop the absurd notion of a third legislative chamber made up of national MPs on occasional day trips to Brussels, and instead embrace warmly some good proposals to extend the legislative and constitutional powers of the European Parliament. They should agree to give the Commission more executive authority and the Council less. They should examine with open minds how to give the EU real financial autonomy, how regions fit into the European political system and how fundamental rights should feature at the heart of the integration process.

The Convention is sure to help the UK government progress further in its discovery of constitutional Europe. It will meet fully in public, and all its work will be available on the web.

AND

Andrew Duff is the Liberal Democrat Member of the European Parliament for the East of England. He can be contacted at Orwell House, Cowley Road, Cambridge CB4 0PP or via mep@andrewduffmep.org. d

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Andrew's work
in the European Parliament since 1999

Andrew is Vice-President of the European Parliament delegation to the Constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe.

Rights for EU citizens

Andrew drafted the Charter of Fundamental Rights which has strengthened the rights of all the citizens of the European Union.

Turkey

Andrew is working for improved links between the EU and Turkey, to encourage improvements in Turkey's human rights record and to enhance its democracy.

Andrew's campaigning in the East of England

Airport Expansion

Andrew has led calls for the Air Travel industry to be subjected to the same rigorous environmental criteria as other modes of transport