EU summit signals end to 'constitutional crisis'

Europe’s new reform treaty has been hailed as a solution to the 'crisis' gripping the continent since French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution.

That is the verdict of senior Danish MEP Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, who described the deal hammered out by EU leaders at the weekend as the “best you can expect from compromise.”

“Europe can now move out of its constitutional crisis and concentrate on things that matter to people’s everyday lives,” said Rasmussen, the president of the Party of European Socialists.

His comments were echoed by French MEP Joseph Daul, leader of the EPP-ED, parliament’s largest political group.

"The 27 member states have, despite great difficulties involved, succeeded in finding a balanced agreement," Daul said.

"Now the timetable must be respected: an IGC in the first month of the Portuguese presidency, then ratification by all member states so that the new treaty can enter into force before the 2009 European elections," he added.

Most of the MEPs taking part in a debate on the deal during the constitutional affairs committee on Monday welcomed the deal.

"Despite complications, the outcome at the end of the IGC will be a stronger EU," said UK Liberal Andrew Duff.

Others, however, were less enthusiastic, with German GUE deputy Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann saying the new text is “less transparent and less close to citizens” than the draft constitution.

Danish eurosceptic MEP Jens-Peter Bonde, a convinced opponent of the treaty from the start, said, “I preferred the draft constitution because at least it was honest.”

A parliamentary report on the IGC mandate will be put to the vote in the constitutional affairs committee on 9 July in Strasbourg and is scheduled for debate and vote by the plenary later the same week.

Further reaction to the deal came from Michel Delebarre, president of the Committee of the Regions, who said the reform treaty preserves most of the institutional rights for local and regional authorities contained in the draft constitution.

"It is a big step forward for European local and regional authorities," said Delebarre, who is also mayor of Dunkerque.

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