Development in the debate on the future of Europe

• Constitution and Civil Society

• Main changes

• What next?

Why a constitution?Heads of States decided to convene a Convention onthe future of Europe in Laeken December 2001 in orderto tackle following problems:

Need to bring the

Union closer to

the people

Need to became

real Global Player

Need to be prepared for

the Enlargement

Making the European Constitution

• Convention on the future of Europe

• Intergovernmental Conference (IGC)

• Ratification

Convention

• March 2002-July 2003

• Representatives from national parliaments, European Parliament, Commission and governments and civil society (ETUC)

• Very transparent process: open meetings, public documents, interactive website,…

Intergovernmental Conference

• October 2003-June 2004

• Representatives of governments

• Not transparent: closed meetings, difficult access to documents

Ratification

Parliamentary Referendum

Binding Non-binding

Parliamentary

• Vote by the State’s Parliamentary Chamber(s)

• e.g. Malta, vote of Parliament expected for July -05

• No public campaign envisaged by the Government: the vote on accession was also a vote on the Constitution.

Referendum

• Binding/non-binding

• e.g. Spain: referendum February –05, parliamentary approval on April-May -05

• France / Netherlands

EU External policies structure• Composed of various separate elements put

on the same level

Humanitarian

Aid

Trade

Development Cooperation

Security

Economic, technical and financial cooperation

Strong and independent Development Cooperation Policy

• Article III-316

• Integrity of development preserved vis-à-vis security and trade

Strong and independent Development Cooperation Policy

• Article III-316 applies to all developing countries

• (Economic, financial and technical cooperation with third countries other than developing countries (art. III-319))

Objectives of Development Cooperation

• Poverty eradication

• Coherence clause: coherence of all Community policies

• MDGs

New Legal base for Humanitarian Aid

• First Legal Basis (Art. III-321)

• Co-decision procedure

• Impartiality, neutrality and non-discrimination

• European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps

Clear and strong values and objectives for the EU

Values• Respect for human dignity, freedom,

democracy, equality, the rule of law, respect for human rights

• A criteria to join the Union• Promote these values in the wider world,

apply also to the external aspects of internal policies: agriculture, environment, migration, trade

Objectives

• Eradication of poverty

• Sustainable development

• Peace

• Solidarity

• Human rights

• Respect for the UN charter

Creation of a European Foreign Minister Position

• One hat in the Commission as a vice-president• One hat in the Council as a responsible for

Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP)• Only coordination of aspects of external action in

the Commission, not policy making on development, humanitarian aid, trade,…

• Should not replace the Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid!

Establishment of a European External Action Service

• Service will assist the European Foreign Minister

• Preparation has already started on November 2004

• Composed of officials from the Council, the Commission and national diplomatic services

• Position of Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid within?

• Goes forward even without the Constitution?

New legal base for EU’s relations with its neighbours

• First legal basis

• Special cooperation policy with its neigh-bours based on values defined in art. I-2

• This policy should not undermine Union’s relations with neighboring developing countries that should still fall under the development article

New legal base for participatory democracy

• First legal basis

• European citizens initiative

• Commission should carry out broad consultations with the parties concerned

• NGOs to monitor the implementation of this article

Shared competence

• Special status for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid

• National development policies and the Union’s policy should complete and reinforce each other

• Strong joint EU actions and bilateral development programmes of the Member States

Act4Europe

www.act4europe.org

http://constitution.eurostep.org

Constitution,

What next for development

Policies for Development

• MDGs

• Development Policy Statement

• European neighborhood Policy

Institutions for Development

• A Commissioner

• A Directorate General

• Policy and implementation

• A European External Action Service

• Mainstreaming

Finances for Development

• Financial Perspectives 2007-2013

• Financial Instruments

• EC Budget

Pre-Accession European Neighbourhood

Development And Economic

Cooperation

EU

On all these processes

Engagement at national level is key