Commentaar Fins Conventielid: "Geef EU een nieuwe, maar korte grondwet" (en)

EUOBSERVER / COMMENT - France and Holland have just demonstrated a masterpiece of political bungling. Leading politicians did not know how to tell their citizens what the EU constitution is about.

A clear majority of the French and the Dutch said "No" to the new EU constitution. At the same time, they said "Yes" to the present EU. The referendums won't make the EU go away. It will carry on as before.

These referendums leave us with our current muddled, undemocratic and unsocial treaties. The EU that is for economic integration and dubious about a social Europe is here to stay. Thanks to the French and the Dutch.

Must we other Europeans accept this? Unfortunately, yes.

The EU is not a federation; it is a community of sovereign member states. Thus it is based on international treaties that can only be changed unanimously. If just one member says no, there is no treaty change.

The only alternative would be for the nay-sayers to be left outside the treaty. No-one is going to expel France and Holland, two founder countries, from the EU. It is plain that the constitution won't become law in its present form.

What to do? The sadly probable scenario is for the current treaties to be revised piecemeal. Some bits will be taken from the constitution, e.g., the foreign minister, the reduced Commission or the permanent presidency of the European Council. This will lose us the general thrust towards a more democratic decision-making and a more social Europe.

Is this what they wanted in France and Holland? I doubt it. Their political leaders have become so alienated from their citizens that they didn't know how to present a credible case.

There is another solution. The only way to save the EU constitution is to approve an abbreviated version. Drop the technical and explanatory articles in parts III and IV. The new constitution only needs parts I and II: what the Union is for, how it makes its decisions, and the rights of citizens.

This would give the constitution a chance to be approved. It would also offer citizens a more comprehensible document. This abbreviated constitution would have a chance of passing referendums in France and Holland by late 2006.

The author is Finnish MP and was a member of the EU Constitutional Convention