Intergovernmental Conference 2003-2004[fr][de] 

The EU Founding Treaties can only be modified with the consent of all of the Member States within an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). The IGC takes the form of negotiations among the Member States with the aim of modifying or supplementing the treaties. The EU has held five such conferences to modify its founding treaties with the aim of deepening the European integration process. The past IGCs set up the European Single Market and the Economic and Monetary Union.

The sixth IGC, which began in October 2003, was the first one to be preceded by a Convention, a forum made u p of elected representatives and officials from the 15 Member States, 13 candidate countries and EU institutions as well as representatives of non-governmental and academic organisations, industry federations and trade unions. After 16 months of discussions, the Convention adopted a draft proposal for an EU Constitutional Treaty which will serve as a starting point for the IGC.

A new IGC had been called for by the EU leaders to amend the Treaties of Amsterdam and Nice which did not fulfill their role of preparing the Union for enlargement. Although the Amsterdam Treaty of 1997 introduced substantial changes with a view to future enlargement, the amendments were not sufficient to allow for an inclusion of 10 and more new members in the EU.

The EU adopted a new Treaty at the European Council in Nice in December 2000 to amend the Amsterdam Treaty. However, the Nice Treaty also failed to lay the foundations for an enlarged EU despite introducing a few important changes regarding the composition of the Commission, the seats of the European Parliament, the reweighting of votes by the Council and the extension of majority voting.

The intergovernmental method - negotiations among national governments behind closed doors - reached its limits in Nice. The EU appeared to be further and further removed from its citizens and the decision-making process appeared to be in the hands of unelected bureaucrats rather than elected representatives. Realising this, the EU leaders decided to convene a Convention in order to facilitate a broad and open debate on the future of Europe. The Convention's task was to draw up the new institutional architecture of the EU and prepare the next IGC.

The declared aims of EU Treaty changes to be decided at the sixth IGC are:

• bringing the EU closer to its citizens,
• strengthening the EU's democratic character,
• facilitating the EU's capacity to make decisions, especially after its enlargement,
• enhancing the EU's ability to act as a coherent and unified force in the international system and
• effectively deal with the challenges globalisation and interdependence create.

The Thessaloniki European Council decided on 20 June 2003 that the text of the Draft Constitutional Treaty is a good basis for starting in the Intergovernmental Conference. The EU heads of state and government asked the Italian Presidency to convene this conference in October 2003. The conference should complete its work and agree the Constitutional Treaty as soon as possible and in time for it to become known to European citizens before the June 2004 elections for the European Parliament. The leaders decided that the Constitutional Treaty is to be signed by the Member States of the enlarged Union as soon as possible after 1 May 2004, the envisaged date of enlargement.

The Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) will be conducted by the Heads of State or Government, assisted by the members of the General Affairs and External Relations Council. The representative of the Commission will participate in the Conference. The 10 future Member States will participate in the IGC on an equal footing with the current Member States. The European Parliament will be closely associated and involved in the work of the Conference. The three candidate countries - Bulgaria and Romania, with whom accession negotiations are underway, and Turkey - will take part in all meetings of the Conference as observers.

Several contentious issues had to be resolved at the IGC:

• Smaller countries feared that the draft Constitutional Treaty favours bigger countries. They especially oppose replacing the  six-month rotating presidency with a  permanent president of the European Council. They also objected to proposals that only 15 members would have voting rights in a streamlined  European Commission .
• A new  voting system for the Council: During the Convention, 16 countries, including Spain and Britain, argued that the present qualified majority voting system should be kept.
• Some Member States supported the extension of  qualified majority voting to the areas of taxation, immigration, foreign policy and culture. The Convention decided to keep the right of veto in these areas under pressure from the big Member States.

The approval of the final text of the Constitution by all 25 heads of government was scheduled to take place by mid-December 2003 to allow for the final text to be translated into all 20 official languages and signed in Rome in early May 2004. This would have provided voters with enough time before the European Parliament elections to have a clearer idea of what kind of Europe they would be voting on. The goal was for the Constitution to come into force in 2005.

Failure at IGC summit meeting 12-13 December 2003

The IGC meeting failed to conclude negotiations on the EU Constitution but it was not altogether unsuccessful. EU leaders agreed on the  composition of the Commission , namely to retain the one Commissioner per country principle, as well as to increase the minimum number of  seats in the European Parliament . Moreover, they agreed not to re-open discussions on issues already agreed in past negotiations. 

Two issues were left unresolved which led the EU's political leaders to establish that the EU summit could not be concluded during the mandate of the Italian Presidency. One was the disagreement over whether to extend  qualified majority voting (QMV) in areas such as social policy and taxation.

The other more major source of disagreement related to the  definition of QMV , with Poland and Spain not willing to give up the voting weight granted to them by the Nice Treaty despite a last-minute compromise proposal by Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi to extend this vote weighting to 2014.

Following the failure of the EU summit many expect that new avenues will be sought by countries wishing for further integration, increasing the likelihood of a "two-speed Europe". Germany and France were quick to announce their intention to forge closer co-operation with like-minded countries.

EU leaders inject 'political will' into the continuation of the IGC at the European Council of 25-26 March 2004

EU leaders met for a dinner discussion on the future of the IGC on 25 March. Having considered the  progress report of the Irish Presidency , they decided to 'reaffirm their commitment to reaching agreement on the Constitutional Treaty'. Formal negotiations in the IGC are set to resume with the objective of reaching an agreement on the Constitutional Treaty by the June European Council (17-18 June 2004).

IGC concluded and Constitutional Treaty agreed at the European Council on 17-18 June 2004

By late in the evening on 18 June the leaders of the European Union managed to strike a deal on the Constitution (see also  EurActiv 21 June 2004 ). 

"C'est un bon texte pour l'Europe, c'est un bon texte pour les Europ.s [This is a good text for Europe, a good text for Europeans]," said  Valy Giscard d'Estaing , Chairman of the Convention on the Future of Europe at a joint press briefing on 21 June with Vice Chairman  Jean-Luc Dehaene . Giscard d'Estaing welcomed the adoption of the Constitution which, they underlined, has retained more than 90 per cent of the text proposed by the Convention. Dehaene highlighted the importance of the Convention-method which "has brought with it something new in European affairs."  

A press release by  UNICE , the EU-wide umbrella organisation representing employers, states that the new Constitutional Treaty provides a good basis to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU, enhance the economies of the EU and their ability to fully realise the potentials of monetary union, and to strengthen the EU's economic power on the international stage.

UEAPME , the European Association of Craft Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, has regretted the failure of the European Council to give the go-ahead for extending qualified majority voting to taxation. "We have now a framework that ensures the long term viability of the decision making process in an enlarged Europe, but we still have an obstacle to the finalisation of the Internal Market which is the unanimity vote rule for taxation issues," said Hans-Werner Mý Secretary General of UEAPME.

ETUC , the European Trade Union Confederation, has regretted the fact that "the agreement has reduced ambitions, compared to the draft of the European Convention". A press release issued on 21 June acknowledges that while the Constitutional Treaty is a big step forward in comparison with the Nice Treaty, in relation to the Convention's draft, the IGC resulted in a "second best solution".

The  EU Civil Society Contact Group , comprising NGOs in six policy areas (environment, social, women, development, human rights and culture) has welcomed the Convention process which involved civil society organisations and trade unions but deplored the IGC process which resulted in a "political deal but not a vision for Europe."

Political parties

The  Greens in the European Parliament have expressed dissatisfaction with the intergovernmental method. "The change from the convention method to the intergovernmental method has resulted in the Council settling on the lowest common denominator. The heads of state and government were more concerned about their ability to block decisions than to make decisions," said Johannes Voggenhuber, Member of the European Convention.

Chairman of the Group of the  European People's Party Hans-Gert Pýring has said that the Constitution was "the basis for our common future" although he regretted the fact that Council voting has proven to be a "complex compromise" which due to different "exception mechanisms" [blocking minorities, etc] "is not characterised by great clarity" and has not led to the simplification of the decision making procedures.

"Despite the red lines and the last minute manoeuvring, the new enlarged Europe just got the deal it needed," said Graham Watson, leader of the  European Liberal Democrat and Reform Group in the European Parliament. "The Governments who have approved this Constitution now have a duty to go home and sell it to their people," said Watson. 

President of the Party of European  Socialists Group Enrique Barqánd PES leader Poul Nyrup Rasmussen stated in a joint press release that "The constitution (...) will serve as a good basis on which we can work for a more just an d social Europe".

Member States

The  Czech President Vaclav Klaus regretted the adoption of the EU Constitution saying that it was an "unfortunate" development days after the European electorate failed to give support to many of the EU leaders at the negotiating table. The Czech Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla, however, said that the Constitution was "an important step, a great progress" which will ensure that Europe remains an important global player.

Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski said that the EU has obtained a more solid foundation through the Treaty and called the EU Constitution a good compromise for Poland. Caretaker Prime Minister Marek Belka has reportedly said to Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita that, although he would have been prepared to break up the summit a couple of times, he decided to hold out in order not to weaken Poland's future negotiating position on the budget and the Treaty (in a next attempt).

Italy hopes that the historic treaty could be signed in Rome in the autumn.

Britain upheld throughout the IGC its "red-line issues", ie unanimity to remain for treaty change, tax, social security, defence and the system of own resources. A referendum in the UK is due to take place during the second half of 2005 or early 2006. Its outcome is highly uncertain following strong support given by the British public to the eurosceptic UK Independence Party.

Germany pushed for the extension of qualified majority voting for foreign policy decisions against strong opposition of Britain. On the other hand, throught the IGC Germany insisted on the right of veto for decisions in the area of immigration. The Convention had given Berlin guarantees that it would keep the right to set the quotas for legal migrants seeking employment in Germany.

The surprise win of the Socialist party in Spanish national elections held on 14 March 2004 left Poland isolated with its reluctance to accept the double majority voting system. Following his victory,  Spain 's new Prime Minister JosÌuis Rodrµez Zapatero declared his intention to rapidly find an agreement on the new EU Constitution.

Following the change in the European political landscape, Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller immediately signalled that  Poland should avoid being left on its own as regards the EU Constitution. "We have to find a solution which will not lead to that isolation," Mr Miller said.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has welcomed the decision of not including a reference to Christianity in the EU Constitution. "This is a good Constitution which fulfils the expectations of Turkey," Gul said.