Lidstaten ontwarren juridische knopen in de (ontwerp-)Grondwet (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - While EU leaders and foreign ministers debate the political nuances of the Constitution more or less in the open, a far more laborious exercise is taking place behind very closed doors by EU technocrats.

They are trying to clear up the legal quagmire that remains after work on the Constitution, and specifically the policy part (part IV), was finished in a rush before the summer.

A team of legal experts from all 25 member states, plus observers from the Commission and the European Parliament have already met eight times during October and are scheduled to meet ten more times in November.

Gruelling

The work is gruelling, as they have to check that the new Constitution, which stretches to over 400 articles, complies with all the EU's primary law.

Most of the work involves clearing up the ambiguities in the text and also drawing attention to bits that have been forgotten: such as what to do with the Commission between adoption of the Constitution (probably in 2006) and the new rules on its composition which will come into place in November 2009.

"They [the Convention on the Future of Europe] completely forgot this", said an EU source.

Bickering over criminal law issues

Though the atmosphere is said to be "constructive", there are serious issues that the member states are worried about.

These mainly concern the treaty's articles on the harmonisation of criminal law. Countries such as the UK and Ireland, operating under common law systems, are strongly opposing the move.

Austria, Portugal and Slovakia are also flatly against any shift to qualified majority on both judicial and police co-operation.

Several countries have also raised concerns about the plan for a European Public Prosecutor, either being totally against the idea or wanting to reduce the Prosecutor's mandate.

The legal team has not touched sensitive issues such as vote weighting in the new Constitution or the scope of the power of the President of the Council as these are deemed purely political issues to be decided by EU leaders.

EU symbols tucked away

Progress is slow and the group, known by its Chair's name Pyrus, cannot take a decision unless all 25 member states agree.

If there is one dissenting voice within the group, the draft Constitution stays as it is.

This is why the article on EU symbols, the flag, anthem, Europe Day, will remain tucked away in part IV.

The UK refused to allow the article to be moved to the first articles of the Constitution fearing the political consequences.

Laborious though this work is, it is likely to chop time off at the other end - normally months are needed to legally clear a text after it has been politically agreed.

The Italian EU Presidency is pushing for the talks to finish in December this year while EU leaders have agreed that the whole text must be available in time for citizens to have before the EU Parliament elections in June 2004.