…
European Union leaders struck a deal on a new governing treaty, ending two years of soul-searching over how to equip the bloc to tackle 21st-century scourges such as climate change and terrorism.
The new EU Treaty, to be signed in
The deal was announced early Friday morning by European Council President, Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates and European Commission President Jose Barrosso after a dinner of the 27 leaders with Barrosso and CFSP Chief Javier Solana.
Describing the day as historic for
”Now we can play our full role in the world,” he said.
Barosso said that ”with this settlement we can now look how can Europe defend its interests in the age of globalization.”
”With these institutions now, we can look to the benefits for our citizens Europe after the most important priorities for our citizens,” Barrosso said, adding that the signing of the Treaty will be followed by the member-states ratification process.
Replying to questions, Socrates said that the European Parliament seats will increase to 751, granting one more seat to Italy which raised objections regarding the redistribution of EU Parliament seats. Italy will have 73 seats as Britain, but one fewer than France.
Socrates said that the distribution of the seats will be decided in EU Summit in December. Cyprus will maintain its six seats, while Greece will have two less namely 24.
The new Treaty, to be entered into force in 2009 after the ratification process is completed, provides, inter alia, for an EU Council President with a 2.5 year-term, replacing the rotating system, a high representative for foreign policy with enhanced powers and it will also extend the powers of the European parliament and the ability of national legislatures to oversee EU legislation.
The next step is ratification by all EU governments, a hurdle that has doomed EU treaties in the past. Ireland, which voted down the EU’s current treaty in 2001 only to back it a year later, will hold a referendum and pressure is mounting on U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown to call a popular vote that polls show he is certain to lose.
Failed referendums in France and the Netherlands killed off a planned EU constitution in 2005, stirring concerns that the bloc was out of touch with its citizens. The new treaty, dubbed the Reform Treaty, will be signed Dec. 13 in Lisbon.
Denmark, which triggered a currency crisis in 1992 by vetoing the Maastricht Treaty, will decide in December whether to put the Reform Treaty — also to be known as the Treaty of Lisbon — to a popular vote.
France and the Netherlands, haunted by the constitution referendums that led to the EU’s institutional standstill, plan parliamentary ratification for the Reform Treaty.
Now with 27 member countries and a probable 28th, Croatia, waiting in the wings, the EU is straining under a decision- making system originally designed for six countries in 1958. The Reform Treaty would replace complex voting mathematics with a “double majority” formula enabling laws to pass with the support of 55 percent of the governments representing 65 percent of the EU’s population.
European Commission President Jose Barroso said the overhaul makes it easier for the EU to live up to global ambitions such as taking the lead in combating climate change and modernizing the economy to deal with competition from China, India and Russia.
The accord hinged on last-ditch bargaining with Poland, which has complained of being treated as a second-class power since joining the EU as its largest ex-communist state in 2004.
Italy also scored a late victory, winning an extra seat in the European Parliament that puts it on par with Britain, at 73 seats apiece. The leaders put off a final accord on parliamentary seats until their December summit.
The 18 countries that ratified the constitution battled to save as much of that document as possible. Daniel Gros, director of the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, said “the substance of the Reform Treaty is 90 percent that of the constitution.”
While the new treaty strips out the constitution’s references to the EU’s two-decade-old flag and anthem, the public won’t notice the difference. EU and national institutions will still fly the flag of 12 gold stars on a blue background, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony remains the official hymn.
Like the constitution, the treaty creates the post of EU president with a 2 1/2-year term, shrinks the Brussels-based European Commission, enhances the power of the European and national parliaments, strengthens the EU’s foreign policy representative and does away with national vetoes over terrorism, crime fighting and illegal immigration.
German officials dismissed concerns that the treaty would erode the ECB’s legal foundations by listing it along with EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice. The bank’s powers, set out in the Maastricht Treaty, remain unchanged.
Â
