Barroso puts pressure on The Hague over EU constitution

THE HAGUE - European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso on Thursday (8 February) urged the Netherlands to start "moving" towards a compromise on the EU constitution.

Mr Barroso's trip to The Hague, the first-ever visit of a commission president to the Dutch parliament, came just one day after the publication of a new Dutch coalition agreement which says the Netherlands will seek major changes to the EU constitution, which was rejected by Dutch voters in a 2005 referendum.

The agreement of the new centre-left coalition says the Netherlands will aim at a new EU treaty "which differs convincingly in content, size and name from the 'constitutional treaty' which was rejected earlier" - putting The Hague at odds with Brussels which wants to salvage the bulk of the current text of the EU constitution.

Mr Barroso was shown the coalition deal during a meeting with prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende - a Christian Democrat who will also lead the new government.

"When I spoke today with prime minister Balkenende and when I saw the agreement of the coalition, I saw that one of the most important points is precisely the need they stress to find a solution," Mr Barroso told journalists.

"There was a possibility for the Netherlands to say - look, it was not possible to ratify it, let's forget about it. That is not what is said by the new coalition. They say: we need a new treaty. And they want to find a solution."

But he also strongly urged the Netherlands, which rejected the EU constitution in a referendum in 2005, to start actively working towards a compromise on the document which has meanwhile been ratified by 18 member states.

"Of course the Netherlands has signed the constitutional treaty, so the Netherlands has a responsibility to ratify it. And in case it could not ratify it, it should work with others to come to a solution. I want no ambiguity about it," he said.

"Now everybody has to move. Those who want the treaty exactly as it is, have to accept that it is not possible. And the Netherlands has to understand it has to make a movement in the direction of those who have ratified."

'You guys broke it'

Similar remarks by Mr Barroso made earlier this week raised eyebrows in the Dutch parliament, with several parliamentarians blaming the commission chief for putting all responsibility for the EU's constitutional crisis on the "no" voting countries France and the Netherlands.

"It is right that at the moment there is a signature under a treaty, this constitutes a heavy responsibility," said Christian Democrat MP Jan Jacob van Dijk. "But what is most important is that what's in the treaty, is accepted by the population."

"Rest assured, we will come up with solutions here," said liberal deputy Han ten Broeke. "However I believe it is not right to say 'you guys broke it, now you guys fix it'."

The parliament's speaker, Labour member Gerdi Verbeet, stated "It may be tempting to look to the new governments in France and the Netherlands for a fresh impetus in the institutional debate. But it would be unwise to focus on these countries only," arguing that public confidence in the EU is on the decline also in states which have ratified the constitution.

Mr Barroso presented MPs with a speech carefully designed to address Dutch sensitivities - such as EU bureaucracy, trade, climate change and enlargement - which left several deputies impressed by the Portuguese politician's passionate plea for European intregration.

But it proved harder to find common ground on the constitutional issue which dominated the debate, with Mr Barroso strongly rejecting calls by Dutch MPs to take the current EU's Nice treaty and not the EU constitution as a starting point for institutional reform.

"Those who say the Nice treaty is enough are deceiving European citizens. In fact they are denying them a more democratic European Union," Mr Barroso stated.

Referendum

Meanwhile, the newly-formed Dutch coalition of Christian Democrats, Labour and the protestant Christian Union is facing heavy political flak over its decision not to commit itself to a referendum on a revised version of the EU constitution.

The Balkenende government will instead wait for legal advice from the Council of State, a top advisory body, which will only rule once a compromise over the text has been reached at EU level.

A Labour member of the European Parliament, Max van den Berg, has criticised his own party's signing up to the procedure, seen as designed to avert a second Dutch referendum down the line.

"If you make substantial agreements on co-operation in Europe, you should have the courage to submit these agreements to the population," he stated according to daily NRC Handelsblad.

The leftist, green and liberal opposition parties also criticised the move, with Green MEP Kathalijne Buitenweg calling the scenario of an EU treaty change without a referendum "perverted."