The letter sent to the parliament on 19 March 2007, by Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen and European Affairs Minister Frans Timmermans, laid out the Dutch position towards a new EU treaty, which seems to take a more Eurosceptic stance.
"The Dutch government would like to see a short, technical and downgraded text," a government spokesperson Jan Willem Beaujean confirmed.
The document proposes to improve democratic control, give national parliaments a greater say and limit the EU's competences. Policy areas, such as pensions, taxation, education, social security, culture and health, should remain strictly within the national domain.
Issues such as energy, climate change, asylum and migration and the fight against terrorism and cross-border crime could be best dealt with at EU level, according to the statement.
The Dutch government wants the label "constitution" dropped and seeks a minimalist new treaty. This is in line with the coalition agreement, which states: "The outcome should be manifestly different from the previously rejected constitutional treaty in terms of its content, scope and name."
The government would also like to set down the rules and criteria for further enlargement in the new treaty, such as the Copenhagen Criteria. Enlargement also played a role in the Dutch rejection of the Constitutional Treaty.
However, the government intentionally left open whether it will hold a second referendum for the new treaty.
