QCEA
Responses to the Convention on the Future of Europe
PROPOSED
AMENDMENTS TO DRAFT ARTICLES 1-16 OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL TREATY
13
February 2003
Article
2: The Union’s values
‘The
Union is founded on the indivisible, universal
values of respect for human dignity, equality,
liberty, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights,
values which are common to the Member States. Its aim is a society
at peace, through the practice of tolerance, social
justice and solidarity.’
The
insertion of the words indivisible and universal before values
is taken from the Preamble to the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The inclusion of these words would recognise the interdependence
of the values of the EU and the need to pursue these values universally;
in all policy areas, both internal and external.
The
insertion of equality remedies the omission of this fundamental
European value in the first draft and is in line with the report
of the Social Europe Working Group.
The
insertion of social before justice ensures recognition of the
place of social values at the core of the EU. Without social justice
we will not have a ‘society at peace’, or respect
for the fundamental values of the EU.
We
would also like to point out our unease with the term ‘a
society at peace’. The Quaker approach recognises peace
as a process, not an end-state. There will always be conflicts
within society, it is the way that society learns to deal with
and resolve these conflicts that is important.
Article
3: The Union’s objectives
3.1
We welcome the recognition that the fundamental aim of the EU
is, and always has been, to promote peace. We recommend the following
change to emphasise the outward-looking nature of the EU:
‘The
Union’s aim is to promote peace, its values and the well-being
of all peoples.’
3.2
Sustainable Development
We
welcome the inclusion of sustainable development and the requirement
of balance between economic and social goals. However, we regret
the omission of the environmental element of sustainable development
and suggest the following wording:
‘The
Union shall work for a Europe of sustainable development based
on a balance between social justice, a high level of protection
and improvement of the quality of the environment and economic
growth…’
This wording would recognise the three pillars of sustainable
development, as well as strengthening the environmental aspect
of the article to correspond to the existing commitment expressed
in Article 2, TEC (from where the wording is taken).
Social inclusion and the eradication of poverty
We recommend the insertion of these two fundamental objectives
into article 3.2 to fulfil the EU’s current commitment to
social inclusion and to ensure consistency between the EU’s
internal and external objectives.
‘…
It shall promote economic and social cohesion, social
inclusion, the eradication of poverty, equality between
men and women…’
3.3
This article should remain consistent with current Article 29,
TEU, which refers to ‘preventing and combating racism
and xenophobia’ as one of the means of achieving
an area of freedom, security and justice.
3.4
Delete ‘In defending Europe’s independence and interests’
‘The
Union shall seek to advance its values in the wider world. It
shall contribute to sustainable development worldwide,
solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, eradication of poverty
and protection of human rights, including children’s
rights, strict observance of internationally accepted legal commitments,
and the peaceful and just prevention and resolution of
violent conflicts.’
Our amendments are based on the principle that the EU should conduct
its external affairs in consistency with its fundamental values.
We feel that the current wording gives precedence to the ‘interests’
of Europe over its values. The EU was built to prevent conflicts
stemming from states pursuing their own ‘interests’:
it would be against the fundamental aim of the EU (to promote
peace) if in external relations the EU acts simply as another
narrowly self-interested state.
We
welcome the list given of EU objectives in external policy. In
particular, we support the inclusion of the eradication of poverty
as a fundamental objective and stress the importance of retaining
this.
In our suggested amendment, ‘sustainable development worldwide’
replaces the narrower ‘sustainable development of the earth’,
recognising the human as well as environmental aspects of sustainable
development.
We welcome the insertion of the protection of children’s
rights, but feel that human rights more broadly have been omitted.
Finally, the commitment to ‘peace between States’
in the draft is too narrow. It should be recognised that conflict
does not just occur between states, but also involves a variety
of non-state actors. We believe that the EU is uniquely placed
to play a role in the global prevention of violent conflict as
it is in itself a successful example of conflict prevention. Conflict
prevention must be at the heart of EU external policy.
Addition
of the principle of integration
The
principle of integration can be found in Article 6, TEC, which
states that ‘environmental protection requirements must
be integrated into the definition and implementation of the Community
policies and activities referred to in Article 3, in particular
with a view to promoting sustainable development.’ We believe
that the principle of integrating the fundamental objectives of
the EU into all policies and activities is vital for the coherence
of EU action. The principle of integration as it currently stands
should be extended to encompass not only environmental but also
social, economic and external objectives. This horizontal article
should be included at the end of Article 3:
3.6
‘The above objectives must be integrated into the definition
and implementation of all the EU’s policies and activities,
in particular with a view to promoting sustainable development
and the prevention of violent conflict.’
Article
6: Non-discrimination on grounds of nationality
The
inclusion of this article, while necessary on technical grounds,
gives the impression that the EU places more importance on combating
discrimination on grounds of nationality than on other grounds.
Article 13, TEC, should remain a strong competence of the EU,
reflected by the strategic place given to it in the structure
of the Treaty. To include this article following Article 6 would
send a strong political message concerning the importance of combating
discrimination for the EU.
Article
7: Citizenship of the Union
7.1
‘Every person holding the nationality of a Member
State or residing with a legal status within a Member State
shall be a citizen of the Union…’
This recommendation is based on concern for the current discrimination
between EU citizens and legal residents of the EU. We believe
that granting legally-residing third-country nationals European
citizenship rights would contribute to tackling racism and xenophobia
and lead to a more inclusive and tolerant society.
Article
10: Categories of competence
We
are concerned by the lack of clarity in Article 10. The specific
mention of two policy areas; economic policy and CFSP, seems out
of place in a list of the types of competence of the EU. In the
interest of simplicity and accessibility the inclusion of Articles
10.3 and 10.4 should be explained more clearly and the nature
of competence conferred on the EU in these two areas clarified.
Article
12: Shared competences
We
are concerned at the placement of development co-operation in
this article. The positioning of development co-operation in a
separate sub-article from the other areas of shared competence,
and the wording of this sub-article, lacks clarity and can be
seen as a weakening of the current place of development co-operation
in the Treaty.
The
status of development co-operation as a shared competence should
therefore be clarified. It is essential that the development co-operation
programmes of the EU and the Member States are based on a common
policy for the EU as a whole. This common policy should be based
on the values and objectives of Articles 2 and 3, in particular
the commitment to sustainable development and the eradication
of poverty.
Articles
13 & 14
We
are concerned that the inclusion of these two articles, defining
competence in two specific policy areas lack clarity and suggests
that these areas of policy are of higher priority to the EU than
the policy areas listed elsewhere in Articles 11, 12 and 15.
The
rationale for the insertion of these articles in this way must
be made clear within the text.
If
this rationale is that the division of competence in these areas
is different, this should be made clear and the division of competence
in each case should be described. It should also be made clear
that these policy areas do not have priority over other policy
areas.
We
are particularly concerned that these articles seem to indicate
a difference in the way that the objectives of the EU are treated
in policy implementation. The following recommendations on each
article attempt to tackle this issue.
Article
13: The coordination of economic policies
To
balance social and economic policy (as stated as an objective
of the EU in Article 3), we recommend the following amendments:
Insertion
of ‘and social’ after economic in
the title of this article.
13.1
‘The Union shall coordinate the economic policies of the
Member States, in particular by establishing broad guidelines
for these policies that are coherent with the social objectives
of the European Union.’
These
amendments are necessary to ensure that social policy is not subordinated
to economic policy planning.
Article
14: The common foreign and security policy
The
EU’s external action must be based on the objectives outlined
in Article 3.4. The common foreign and security policy must have
as its fundamental objective the prevention and resolution of
violent conflicts. This objective entails recognition of the need
to tackle the root causes of conflict through promotion and adherence
to international law, strengthening democracy, strengthening human
rights, the eradication of poverty and the promotion of sustainable
development including environmental protection.
It
is particularly important, therefore, that all the external action
of the EU is recognised to be vital in contributing to these objectives.
In particular, development co-operation must not be subordinated
to the CFSP. The current formulation of Articles 12 and 14 suggest
that this is the case.
Go
to the website of the Convention
on the Future of Europe to download the first draft of Articles
1-16 of the Constitutional Treaty.
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