MEPs voice concerns over new EU treaty

The European parliament has promised to work closely with the European commission on the drafting of the new reform treaty, despite MEP concerns across a range of issues.

This was the conclusion of an informal meeting on Tuesday between parliament’s three strong IGC team and commission president José Manuel Barroso.

In a statement, the three MEPs: Elmar Brok, Enrique Barón Crespo and Andrew Duff said, "We had a fruitful exchange of views [with the commission president] over a wide range of topics concerning the draft reform treaty.”

“We discussed with Barroso the complexity of transforming the mandate of the European council into proper treaty form. We were able to identify together certain points which, in our opinion, need further legal clarification, political explanation, or both."

The MEPs have a number of issues which they told Barroso needed further clarification.

Brok the parliament’s former foreign affairs committee chair, in an article to be published in the next issue of the Parliament Magazine is adamant that the IGC’s mandate, reached by EU leaders in June, should not be compromised.

“For the European parliament, it is of the utmost importance that the mandate for the IGC is fulfilled as agreed,” says Brok.

“The parliament will not demand any politically motivated changes to be made, but we will also not accept any demands by member states to revise the given mandate.”

All three MEPs said they had concerns with the definition and consequences of the UK’s demands to opt-out of the EU charter of fundamental rights.

“The possibility of an opt-back-in should be mentioned in the text,” suggests Brok.

Also writing in the Parliament Magazine, Enrique Barón Crespo says he feels a deep sense of responsibility to ensure that the “essence of the EU constitution remains unchecked in the new text.”

“The objectives of simplifying the texts…should not allow any major alterations of the EU’s principles. [We should] not throw the baby out with the bathwater.”

And the socialist MEP has worries over the “ambiguous and at best vague” reference to EU citizenship.

“This failure to address the very basic concept of our democratic life should and must be corrected and improved.”

Barón Crespo also warns that MEPs are in no mood to provide further concessions to the UK, despite the problems that a possible referendum on the new treaty in Britain could cause.

“[The UK’s opt-outs] have led to a situation close to humiliation and embarrassment for the entire EU.”

Meanwhile Andrew Duff writes that he finds it difficult to fathom what the UK hopes to gain from pressing ahead with its opt-out from the charter of fundamental rights.

“One of the stranger aspects of the IGC is the way the British have turned against the charter in their efforts to extricate themselves from having to hold a referendum,” says Duff.

The ALDE constitutional expert argues that London’s main justification for its new protocol - that the charter could impact on its own flexible labour markets - is fundamentally flawed.

“Under no conceivable circumstances could the charter give rise to direct claims for positive action by the EU or member states in the matter of pay, social security, employment or labour policy.”

“[However] the charter has symbolic value and the lesson of the UK opt-out will not be lost in Moscow or Tehran, Belgrade or even Ankara. The sight of the EU being picky and choosy with its own rights regime is hardly edifying.”

“All in all, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that the British opt-out is a juridical nonsense and a serious political misjudgement.”

The three MEPs will raise their concerns during an informal meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers in Viana do Castelo, Portugal, on 7 September.

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