EU-Digest Special report - EU GETTING BIGGER, NOT BETTER- by Rick Morren

EU-Digest Special Report

EU GETTING BIGGER NOT BETTER - by Rick Morren

The recent summit of EU leaders in Bruxelles clearly showed what everyone already knew - without a constitution, the EU has become a huge, barely manageable body of states. At this latest summit most of the EU leaders complained about the tiring so-called "tours de table" during the summit, which provides every member of the soon to become 27 member EU a say in the final wording of the summit conclusions. President Chirac of France suggested to Mrs. Merkel, who will chair the EU for the coming six months, to "limit the speaking time of everyone to three minutes." A good idea, but probably that is what it will remain, a good idea. Just like the inability for the member nations to agree on just using one working language for EU meetings, instead of reserving a large part of the administrative budget for translations in "zillions" of languages. Practicality is not a strong point within the EU administrative process.

The need to revive the process for a constitution after it was put in cold storage following its rejection by French and Dutch voters in 2005 seems to be more evident than ever before. But it is easier said than done. Spain and Luxembourg stirred things up when their foreign ministers Nicolas Schmit and Alberto Navarro, called for two constitution meetings early next year. The first for those 18 countries who have ratified the text on January 26 in Madrid and the second on February 27 in Luxembourg for those who have not yet ratified the treaty, including France and the Netherlands who rejected it. All this seems to be heading towards a major confrontation within the EU.

The Dutch prime minister, Jan Peter Balkenende, said the Spanish and Luxembourg initiative ignored those who voted no. However, France the other country which voted no is not able to take any decisions until it elects a new president in May, only a few weeks before Berlin hopes to set out a timetable for the constitutional procedures.

As for the 18 countries who have ratified the constitution, they say the constitution will unravel if it is unpicked. Britain, which did not hold a referendum on the constitution is wary of anything that does not mention the EU's free-market goals-the main cause why French voters had voted no.

The task in the 6 months ahead for Mrs. Merkel will not be easy. Like Britain, Mrs. Merkel believes that the EU can not continue to enlarge - until it deals with some important institutional changes.

Bottom line - the situation is extremely critical. It also illustrates the fragility of the European Union, which could rapidly fall apart if its leaders do not rise above their petty political, inward looking differences and quickly create and accept a functional constitution for the European Union. This constitution can not be a weak open ended document, but one which guarantees the proper functioning of a united, independent, democratic, and strong European Union, benefiting not only today's but also future generations of Europeans. Those EU member states which believe that the EU should just be a free-trade area of Europe within an Atlantic alliance are depriving our continent of any real personality and political independence.