Germany warns MEPs not to 'compete' on EU constitution
By Honor Mahony
MEPs will not have any major role in the EU's constitution revival project Germany's foreign minister has said, warning deputies not pick fights with national governments over who serves Europe better or overshadow Berlin's efforts to revive the EU charter.
Speaking before the European Parliament's constitutional affairs committee on Tuesday (23 January), Frank-Walter Steinmeier said "there is no point if the professionals in Europe are competing with one another for the welfare of Europe's citizens."
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"Let us not discuss things in an atmosphere of opposition," he continued.
His words were in response to a plea by MEPs to involve them more in the renewed talks on the constitution, with euro-deputies threatened with being locked out of the high-level discussions over the coming year.
Mr Steinmeier indicated that Berlin's attempts to get a fixed timetable from now until eventual complete ratification by mid-2009 would be undermined if the European parliament pitted itself against national governments by accusing member states of leaving citizens in the dark.
"We need to place trust in one another for a few months," he said, adding that MEPs should not "organise the discussion" in such a way as to make the parliament look like it is being opposed.
For their part, MEPs were reduced to pleading for representation.
Finnish centre-right deputy Alexander Stubb suggested that MEPs should be included in the "sherpa" talks to be conducted over the next few months, where two Berlin officials travel to all the member states to compile a set of wish lists and no-go areas for treaty haggling.
UK liberal MEP Andrew Duff and his socialist colleague Richard Corbett meanwhile made strong requests that MEPs at least be represented in the formal intergovernmental talk on the constitution, pencilled in for the second half of this year.
Others pointed to the fact that MEPs were present during negotiations on the current version of the EU constitution as well as for the Amsterdam and the Maastricht Treaties.
Birthday declaration to kick-start constitution
In response, Mr Steinmeier was non-committal about parliament's possible involvement later this year, but indicated Berlin was not going to be dissuaded from its exclusive sherpa policy.
He pointed to the fact that previous brainstorming meetings on the constitution among member states, where the commission was also involved, meant "everyone runs the risk of reading what he said in the papers the next morning."
The German foreign minister also gave an indication of how much importance Berlin is attaching to the bloc's 50th anniversary declaration, seeing it as a chance to kick-start positive feelings among citizens for the EU and its constitution.
"The anniversary gives us plenty of opportunities to remind people what a success story the European Union is," Mr Steinmeier said.
Beware of dull declarations
But as he once again reminded MEPs of the minor role they are expected to play in drawing up this declaration, he received a warning from former civil-servant-turned-MEP Mr Stubb.
The Finn recalled the time when his country last had the EU presidency and spent many painstaking hours drawing up a declaration for the turn of the millennium.
This supposedly significant statement, he said, sank without a trace almost immediately because it was full of dull civil servant speak.
Mr Stubb suggested the German EU presidency dedicate a website to contributions to the declaration from "school children, writers, and philosophers" to get some ideas instead.