Viewpoint: EU could do better

By Cyril Svoboda
Czech Foreign Minister

In June, as the Czech people voted in favour of membership of the European Union, the EU itself was at a crossroads.

The completion by the convention on the future of Europe of the last articles of a proposed constitution was one of the most significant moments in EU history.

Cyril Svoboda: Proposed changes are an attempt to score top marks

The intergovernmental conference is now about to begin, which will rework the proposed constitution into its final form so that representatives of the individual states can sign it and put it to the test of ratification.

At this point it is worth looking back and recapping on developments so far.

The proposed text hammered out by the convention is the result of many months' activity by the plenum and individual working groups engaged in the detailed complexities of specific areas.

Representatives of the Czech Republic played a significant part in this work.

At the same time, and especially in the later stages, individual European governments took part in this debate, presenting their viewpoints and priorities.

Consensus

The Czech Government did so in March, while simultaneously the Czech Senate also approved its own position on the constitution, which was similar to the government's.

The draft constitution which has flowed from the pen of the convention is a very good one.

We are declaring that the EU is something greater than a merely utilitarian economic community

It encompasses a whole range of points that the Czech Republic has advocated, on institutions and their competences.

Above all, however, it is proof that the EU is now more than a merely utilitarian economic union.

Most important is the fact that representatives of countries with different priorities, traditions and international political outlooks were able to reach consensus despite the scale of the task.

The fact that the Czech Government is proposing partial changes to the draft constitution - both in the preamble and in individual matters related to institutions - does not mean that we are not conscious of the progress that has been made.

Improvements

The effort of making some improvements to the resulting text could be compared to that of a student who does optional subjects in order to improve his report card to show top marks.

The position that the Czech Government will defend at the intergovernmental conference has already been laid out in outline and will be made more specific, namely:

• We request that the states retain equal voting rights in the commission, and that the presidency of the European Council continues to rotate - even if a new post of council president is created
• We request that the threshold for qualified majority voting in the Council of Ministers be raised to 60% of all states and citizens of the EU
• We do not agree with the idea that changes could be made to the constitution - including transition from unanimous to qualified majority voting in certain areas - without the agreement of national parliaments
• In the preamble to the constitution, our country favours mentioning specific values which have created a particular civilised space for the European Union - the traditions of Greek philosophy, Christian and Jewish religion and the traditions of the Enlightenment, for example, undoubtedly belong among these values

It is worth, however, appreciating at this point that the European constitution is not primarily about details.

The principle argument for its acceptance is the reality that by doing so we are declaring that the EU is something greater than a merely utilitarian economic community.

That is why our country too welcomes the creation of a constitution as another step on the journey towards greater European integration.