Thursday

28th Mar 2024

MEPs: Green light for referendum on Constitution

A draft report from the European Parliament has recommended that member states hold referenda on the EU Constitution.

The draft report, adopted on Tuesday (9 September), with a clear majority (18-6), by the Constitutional Committee, has asked member states - if feasible and permitted by their constitutions - to organise a referendum on the Consitution, if possible on the same day as the European elections.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

  • MEPs from the Constitutional Committee supported the consensus produced by Giscard's Convention (Photo: EUobserver)

After approval by the Constitutional Committee, the MEPs will vote on the report later in September, but the campaigning has already begun.

Jens-Peter Bonde, the president of the EDD group is backing the referenda: "That is the only democratic way to do it. Both eurosceptics and ardent federalists agree on that".

The document in general supports the consensus reached by the Convention and calls on the forthcoming Inter-Governmental Conference (IGC) to resist temptation to change it significantly.

"We should be realistic that the Member States want to make changes to the result of the Convention. But any major change won't make the balanced result any better," José-María Gil Robles Gil-Delgado, the co-rapporteur from the EPP-ED, said.

Instead of opening the Pandora box of national requests for changes, MEPs are advising government representatives to move on briskly, and close the IGC by December 2003.

The new Constitution should then be signed by all 25 Member States on Schuman Day (9 May, 2004).

Ukraine slams grain trade restrictions at EU summit

Restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU could translate into military losses in their bid to stop Russia's war, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warned EU leaders during their summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Difficult talks ahead on financing new EU defence spending

With the war in Ukraine showing no signs of ending any time soon, EU leaders will meet in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (21 and 22 March) to discuss how to boost the defence capabilities of Ukraine and of the bloc itself.

Opinion

Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Rather than assuming a pro-European Labour government in London will automatically open doors in Brussels, the Labour party needs to consider what it may be able to offer to incentivise EU leaders to factor the UK into their defence thinking.

Latest News

  1. "Swiftly dial back" interest rates, ECB told
  2. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  3. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult
  4. EU unveils plan to create a European cross-border degree
  5. How migrants risk becoming drug addicts along Balkan route
  6. 2024: A Space Odyssey — why the galaxy needs regulating
  7. Syrian mayor in Germany speaks out against AfD
  8. Asian workers pay price for EU ship recycling

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us