The European Convention faces tall hurdles on the home stretch

The paper calls on the Convention to propose a complete document that does not provide for alternative options.

The paper summarised the most positive and negative aspects of the Convention’s proposals.

The five most important proposals submitted by the Convention are:

• the fusion of the present Treaties into a single document and the assignment of a legal personality to the EU;
• the prominent incorporation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights as Part Two of the Constitution;
• the introduction of a President of the European Council elected by the Heads of State and Government who will lend continuity, visibility and coherence to the representation of the EU externally and internally;
• the envisaged reduction of the number of Commissioners, since this will allow the Commission to remain manageable even with 25 and more member states and to assign appropriate tasks to its members;
• the decision to employ qualified majority voting in the Council and the adoption of the co-decision procedure as the standard legislative procedure.

The five most negative aspects of the proposals submitted by the Convention are:

• the sheer size and the structural complexity of the draft and the numerous repetitions and overlap between the various sections, since this in the end makes it more difficult for citizens to read and comprehend the Constitution;
• the imprecise distinction between constitutional and non-constitutional provisions, and thus a lost opportunity to amend the latter in the future on the basis of a less complex procedure;
• the insufficient delimitation and ambiguity of the competence categories as a basis for a durable and clear division of competences between the EU and its member states;
• the vague definition of the division of labour between the President of the European Council and the future EU Foreign Minister, since the lack of a clear assignment of roles will weaken Europe’s ability to exercise influence, its credibility and its visible presence in the world;
• the right of the European Council to submit nominations for the post of Commission President, since this will counter the significance of European elections as an act which enables citizens to decide and exercise democratic control.

Read the complete text of the strategy paper in

EnglishandGerman.