Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-06-18-Speech-3-028"
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"en.20030618.4.3-028"2
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"Mr President, I am speaking on behalf of the Group of the Party of European Socialists, but I feel I must also express some opinions and concerns as Chairman of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs. The committee of which I am Chairman, and Parliament in general, were strongly in favour of the Convention and advocated the drawing up of a European Constitution. Work has begun on the Constitution. The Convention has succeeded in fulfilling its task, and this gives us great satisfaction. When we are called upon shortly to express our opinion on the convening of the Intergovernmental Conference, as the current Treaty lays down, we will assess the draft adopted by the Convention as well. We will be in an even better position to do so when we have seen the text – which needs further improvement, as Mr Brok and other Members have said – of Parts III and IV of the draft.
As well as this deep satisfaction, we would like to express our appreciation of, and gratitude to, our representatives for their endeavours in the Convention and, in particular, in the Praesidium, to uphold the positions of the European Parliament. Of course, the draft adopted by consensus represents common ground between different positions: some of our representatives’ proposals met with substantial resistance, echoes of which were heard in this Chamber just now.
Our opinion must, therefore, be neither triumphalistic nor dogmatic, and it must not fail to express our concern, particularly on two points. Firstly, the risk of a change in the institutional balance of powers due to the creation of a new position at the top of the Union, the position of full-time President of the European Council. The Committee on Constitutional Affairs declared itself to be fully against this, proposing alternative or compromise solutions, but they were not accepted. Secondly, the possibility that the unanimity obligation would obstruct the decision-making process in key fields in a 25-Member State Union.
We hope that the Intergovernmental Conference will be able to go further: on this and other matters, we are determined to prevent regression in respect of the Convention’s conclusions. We must, however, look closely at the unknowns which will affect the future of the Union. Maintaining a critical attitude and ongoing vigilance does not mean being destructive or pessimistic but serves to give fresh impetus to the process of integration and European unity. Altiero Spinello taught us that: without his criticism of the Single Act, the progress made at Maastricht and Amsterdam would not have been achieved."@en1
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