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What will become of the European Constitution?, by Peter Knauer

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What to do?

The European Council should limit itself to the text which according to the Preamble was originally intended as the Constitution and incorporate the two protocols "On the application of the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity” and "On the role of national parliaments in the European Union” (its monitoring responsibility) into the main text body. Such important elements of a constitution must not again be omitted when published.

The text itself needs to be thoroughly re-edited in order to avoid unnecessary repetitions[1], to structure it more logically and, especially, to make it more understandable for the average educated reader. Ideally, civil organisations should provide the respective preparation work; such a project should start as soon as possible.

We might ask ourselves if the provision according to Article I-47 (3) should remain unchanged according to which the member states commit themselves to gradually enhancing their capacity for military action. Does this not boil down to a call for constantly growing armament? Can this be a constitutional provision?

As another welcome improvement, the Constitution should stipulate that fundamental decisions require only so-called "super-qualified” majorities instead of unanimity as provided in Article I-44 (3): A qualified majority shall be defined as at least 55% or in some cases as at least 72% of the members of the Council representing the participating member states, comprising at least 65% of the population of these states; a blocking minority must include at least the minimum number of Council members representing more than 35 % of the population of the participating member states, plus one member. On the other hand, the Union should depart from the call for unanimity[2] which still exists in some cases giving each country a veto right with which it could completely block an EU policy. Otherwise the European Union will remain in a poor constitutional state.

Essentially, the EU should return to the first two parts of the draft originally intended as a constitution and revise them carefully and thoroughly.

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