Europese socialisten wensen nieuwe Conventie voor hervorming EU-grondwet (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Senior members of the Socialist group in the European Parliament believe that a new convention should be called to once again consider the constitution following its rejection two weeks ago by French and Dutch voters.

According to Richard Corbett, the Socialist's constitution spokesperson, EU leaders meeting at the end of the week are most likely to agree that a period of reflection is needed in the ratification process.

But to avoid this becoming an "indefinite postponement" there should be "a public and pluralist forum, possibly a new convention ... for a serious and wide-ranging debate", he says in a paper drawn up after discussions with his group.

This convention, which would be similar to the convention convened three years ago with governmental, parliamentary and civil society representation, could give "particular consideration" to part III - the policy part of the document that details areas such as foreign and security policy, justice and home affairs and monetary policy.

Done in a rush

Speaking to the EUobserver, Mr Corbett says that Part III was not discussed properly during the original convention which focused mainly on Part I, the objectives of the Union, and Part II, the incorporation of the fundamental charter rights into the constitution.

It is the third lengthy part that gives rise to the constitution running to over four hundred pages and 448 articles - making it about 10 times longer than the US constitution with its seven articles and 27 amendments.

"Only at the very end of the convention did people ask 'what do we do about the existing treaties'", said Mr Corbett adding that the policies in current treaties were adjusted to complement the first two parts of the treaty but they were tacked on to the end "in rather a rush".

He concedes that a content review of part III would take time but this would give a focus to the period of reflection. According to the British Labour MEP, the policies could be made less detailed or Part III could be annexed as a protocol to the constitution.

Part of the reason why voters rejected the constitution was because it was too complicated, said the MEP who suggests that one policy that could eventually be looked at is the agricultural policy which "is 50 years out of date".

On the other hand, in defence of the constitution's policy part, Mr Corbett points out that other states also have very detailed constitutions.

He points out that California's constitution has an article detailing tax rights for minerals when they are found under a golf course.

On top of this, the much-vaunted brevity of the US constitution has to be supplemented by numerous judgements interpreting the general articles.

Openness

Several analysts also argue that the complex and lengthy nature of the EU constitution reflects the fact that it is a document meant to be adhered to by 25 different member states.

But the most important issue for Mr Corbett is that any amendments carried out on the treaty would be done in the open and not just by an intergovernmental conference which would "give the impression of returning to the old ways of secretive, diplomatic negotiations".

This is backed up by Social NGOs who have a sent a joint letter to EU leaders demanding that there is more participatory democracy allowing citizens to debate and be consulted about EU issues at local, regional, national, and European levels.