Today's Date:

At the Copenhagen European Council held a few weeks ago, the Union carried through the greatest enlargement of its history. While it intends to maintain its unity and ability to act both inside and outside the 25 or more member States, there is a greater need than ever before for it to deepen. We wish to bring about a successful reform of the institutions which meets the three requirements of clarity, accountability, and efficiency. In order to achieve these objectives, it is necessary in the European Constitution to strengthen the institutional triangle (maintaining its balance) and carry out a fundamental reform of the Union's external representation. In this respect, we welcome the preliminary draft constitutional treaty presented by the Chairman of the European Convention. We consider that the objectives of the policies of the Union should be defined precisely in the first part of that Treaty.

Europe is a Union of States, peoples and citizens. This political purpose can be expressed in its institutions by the idea of a federation of nation-States.

We wish the Union to be vested with a single legal personality and strong common institutions based on a renewed structure which will end the current organization in pillars, while keeping procedures which are adapted to the various fields.

We want the citizens of Europe to be able to identify with a community of values governed by the rule of law; the Charter of Fundamental Rights must therefore be inserted into the future Constitution in its entirety. Another important prerequisite is a better demarcation of responsibilities between the Union and the member States in accordance with the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality.

We have every confidence that the Convention will present an ambitious constitutional treaty destined to replace the existing treaties and we hope that the ensuing intergovernmental conference can put the finishing touches to this Constitution very swiftly, if possible before the end of the year.

1. European Council

The Council has in particular the functions of:
- adopting the broad guidelines for the policy and strategy of the Union in close collaboration with the Commission;
- defining the principles and main lines of the Common Foreign and Security Policy, including defence policy.

The European Council must be vested with a stable presidency, as must the Commission and the European Parliament. In an enlarged Europe, it is absolutely essential that the leadership of the European Council be given continuity, stability and a higher profile.

The European Council elects its president for a term of five years or for a term of two and a half years after which he/she may be re-elected. This president holds office on a full-time basis throughout the term of his/her mandate.

The President of the European Council has two main functions:
- he/she prepares, chairs and organizes the proceedings of the European Council and ensures its decisions are carried out;
- he/she represents the Union on the international scene at the meetings of the heads of State or government, without prejudicing the responsibilities of the Commission and its president, it being understood that it is for the European Minister of Foreign Affairs to conduct the day-to-day business pertaining to the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

2. European Commission

At a time when Europe is becoming more diverse as the result of enlargement, the constitutional treaty must confirm the European Commission in its role as the mainspring of European integration, guardian of the treaties and in its vocation to embody the general European interest. The Commission has the right of initiative in accordance with the procedures provided for by the treaties.

It is responsible for implementing the legislation adopted by the European Parliament and the Council and for monitoring and controlling the proper implementation of Council decisions. It must have the means of playing this major role to the full. This necessitates a radical simplification of the committee procedure. So as to be able to shoulder their political responsibility, the Commissioners have a power to instruct the directorates-general.

In the field of economic policy, the role played by the Commission, particularly in the supervision of the Stability and Growth Pact, must be strengthened by giving the Commission the means of establishing that excessive public deficits have been, or are liable to be, incurred.

The accountability of the Commission must be guaranteed more effectively without prejudice to its independence and autonomy. Both the Commission and its president must be appointed in the period immediately following the European parliamentary elections. After the election of the President of the Commission by the European Parliament by a qualified majority of its members, he/she is approved by the European Council ruling by qualified majority.

The President of the Commission forms the college of Commissioners taking account of geographical and demographic balances. Within that college, the President may make a distinction between commissioners with a sectoral portfolio and commissioners with specific functions or missions, with a strict system of rotation. Once they have been approved by the European Parliament, the members of the Commission are appointed by the Council, ruling by qualified majority.

The President of the Commission gives political directives to the proceedings of the Commission.

The Commission is politically accountable to both the European Parliament and the European Council.

3. European Parliament

The European Parliament exercises legislative power jointly with the Council. Where the rule of the majority vote is extended in any way to the Council, codecision-making power must be automatically conferred on the European Parliament.

Germany and France wish the budgetary procedure to be rationalized and simplified and for thought to be given to the conditions under which the European Parliament could take decisions on all or part of the budget revenue without increasing the overall tax burden.

4. Council of Ministers

The Council of Ministers, which, together with the European Parliament, drafts European laws, will also have greater operational responsibilities – in particular in the fields of justice and home affairs and of the Common Foreign and Security Policy – which will make more stable leadership imperative.

The Council must concentrate on essentials: the decisions taken by the Council must allow the Commission and the member States extensive powers of implementation and administration.
It must be efficient: the decisions must be taken, as a general rule, by qualified majority voting.

In order to give the action of the Council a higher profile and make it more comprehensible it is desirable to make a distinction between operational and legislative tasks in its activities. In the case of operational tasks, its working methods must give precedence to efficiency and promptness in decision-making. With regard to its legislative tasks, the debates of the Council are public and its duties are generally performed on a basis of joint decision-making with the European Parliament.

The modalities of the chairmanship of the Councils of Ministers vary according to the matters under discussion. The chairmanship of the General Affairs Council, for instance, is held by the Secretary-General of the Council; the External Relations Council is chaired by the European Minister of Foreign Affairs; the ECOFIN, Eurogroup and JHA Councils elect their chairmen for two years from amongst their members. The chairmanship of the other Council formations must be organized in such a way as to guarantee the greatest possible participation of all the member States on the basis of a strict system of rotation.

5. External activities of the Union

If Europe is to be strong and credible on the world scene, the operational, financial and human means at its disposal must match its political will. This requirement for coherence presupposes that the functions of high representative and commissioner in charge of external relations be performed by the same person, a European minister of foreign affairs.

The role of this European minister of foreign affairs is strengthened compared to the present situation; he/she has a formal right of initiative in the field of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and chairs the Council of Ministers responsible for external relations and defence.

The European Council appoints the European minister of foreign affairs by qualified majority voting in agreement with the President of the Commission. The European minister of foreign affairs participates in that capacity and as a member of the Commission with special status, in the meetings of the Commission. The Commission does not take any decisions in CFSP matters. With regard to the Common Foreign and Security Policy, decisions are as a rule taken by qualified majority. However, those with implications for security and defence are taken unanimously. If a member State invokes a national interest in order to oppose a decision, the European minister of foreign affairs is urged to work with it to seek a solution; if he/she does not succeed, the President of the European Council does likewise; if no solution is found, the matter is referred to the European Council with a view to it taking a decision by qualified majority voting.

The European minister of foreign affairs relies on the support of a European diplomatic service in which the Commission's directorate-general works together with a foreign policy unit which has to be created. This includes the foreign policy services of the Council's secretariat and is strengthened by civil servants sent by the member States and the Commission.

The European diplomatic service is working in close liaison with the diplomatic services of the member States. The existing Commission delegations are converted into delegations of the European Union. This set-up would provide a framework within which a European diplomatic service could emerge.

In the field of European security and defence, it is desirable for all the Union member States to participate. Nevertheless, there will be situations where all the member States will not be willing or prepared to participate in cooperation projects or will not be in a position to do so. In this case, those who so wish must be able to use the enhanced cooperation instrument for the CSDP.

6. National parliaments

The national parliaments have to be involved to a greater extent in elaborating and supervising Union decisions: they are irreplaceable links between citizens and the Union and help to create the feeling of belonging to Europe as an integral entity. This is a sine qua non for democracy. The national parliaments intervene in the monitoring of the subsidiarity principle by means of an "early warning" system.

The national parliaments participate in the future reforms of the treaties in a European Convention.

Without creating new institutions, a dialogue has to be developed between members of the European Parliament and members of the national parliaments, for example through the organization of an annual debate on the state of the Union in the Congress. These meetings, which would be held in Strasbourg, would be chaired by the President of the European Parliament./.