European Parliament resolution on the next steps for the period of reflection and analysis on the Future of Europe
Date: 2006-06-14
Institutions: Committee on the Environment, Climate and Food Safety, European Parliament
Subjects: EU policy - national policy, EU situation, European Constitution

9.12.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 300 E/267

Wednesday 14 June 2006

7.
Is aware that a decision on the accession of each country will be taken on its own merits and in the
light of each country's achievements, but would welcome it if, on the basis of the progress achieved so far
by both countries and their activities geared to achieving further progress in the next few months, Bulgaria
and Romania could enter the European Union together and on the same date;

8.
Calls on all political forces in Bulgaria and Romania to concentrate their activities on meeting the
conditions for EU membership by 1 January 2007 and to maintain the political commitment needed to
achieve this objective;

Calls on the Commission, as a matter of urgency, to provide Bulgaria and Romania with the clearest
9.
possible guidance on the outcomes that are expected in order to meet its concerns, to ensure that maximum
Community resources are targeted on these areas in order to help produce tangible improvements, and, in
cooperation with the Bulgarian and Romanian authorities, to define the nature of and procedures for any
possible post-accession monitoring measures and the circumstances under which they might be necessary;

Asks the Member States to complete the ratification process for the accession of Bulgaria and

10.
Romania to the EU on schedule;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the Govern-

11.
ments and Parliaments of Bulgaria and Romania.

P6_TA(2006)0263

Future steps in the period of reflection (European Council of 15-16 June 2006)

European Parliament resolution on the next steps for the period of reflection and analysis on the
Future of Europe

The European Parliament,

— having regard to the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe,

— having regard to its resolution of 12 January 2005 on the Treaty establishing a Constitution for

Europe (1),

— having regard to the Declaration of 18 June 2005 by the Heads of State or Government on the ratifi-
cation of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, at the conclusion of the European Council
of 16 and 17 June 2005,

— having regard to the conclusions of the European Council of 15 and 16 December 2005,

— having regard to its resolution of 19 January 2006 on the period of reflection: the structure, subjects

and context for an assessment of the debate on the European Union (2),

— having regard to Rule 108(5) of its Rules of Procedure,

A. whereas a real debate on the future of the European Union, involving both political actors and citizens,
has been launched in some of the Member States, but a full debate has not yet been launched every-
where throughout the Union, in particular not in all the Member States which have not yet ratified the
Constitutional Treaty,

B. whereas the institutions of the European Union are contributing to this debate by organising public
discussion forums, including on-line forums, in their own working places, as well as at selected venues
in the Member States, but the present Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate has not yet reached
a wider public in the Union,

C. whereas, on 8 and 9 May 2006, a joint meeting of Members of the European Parliament and of the
national parliaments of the Union's Member States opened the inter-parliamentary dimension of this
debate,

(1) OJ C 247 E, 6.10.2005, p. 88.
(2) Texts Adopted, P6_TA(2006)0027.

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Wednesday 14 June 2006

D. whereas there is a strong need for this debate to reach citizens in all Member States, in particular in
those which have not yet ratified the Constitutional Treaty and intend to hold a referendum before
doing so,

E. whereas, on 9 May 2006, parliamentary approval of the Constitutional Treaty was achieved in Estonia

and will soon, it is hoped, be accomplished in Finland,

F. whereas this would bring to 16 the number of countries that have ratified the Constitutional Treaty,
while 2 are not in a position to do so because of the negative outcome of a referendum and others are
hesitating to initiate or continue the ratification procedure, with the result that this process has since
faltered in most of the remaining Member States,

Confirms its commitment to achieving a constitutional settlement for the European Union as quickly

1.
as possible as well as its endorsement of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe;

2. Warns against any attempts to unravel the global compromise achieved in the Constitutional Treaty as
this would seriously call into question the European political project and create the risk of a weakened and
divided Union; confirms, therefore, its opposition to the piecemeal implementation of parts of the constitu-
tional package deal, as well as its opposition to the immediate creation of core groups of certain Member
States as a way of circumventing the constitutional process for the Union as a whole;

3.
Supports, on the other hand, those democratic improvements to institutional procedures that can be
agreed under the terms of the existing EU Treaties, for example, improving transparency in the Council of
Ministers, reforming the comitology agreement, use of the ‘passerelle’ to QMV and codecision in the field of
justice and home affairs,
improving national parliamentary scrutiny and introducing a form of citizens'
initiative;

4.
Calls on the European Council to move from the period of reflection to a period of analysis extending
to mid-2007, with a view to reaching a clear proposal as to how to proceed with the Constitutional Treaty
no later than the second half of 2007;

Calls on the European Council to seek clear commitments from each Member State as to the ways and
5.
means by which it proposes to create and lead an open, Union-wide and structured public debate focusing
on the key questions relating to the future of Europe during the extended period of reflection;

Asks the Commission to adjust its ‘Plan D’ for the second phase of the period of reflection and to

6.
provide sufficient funding for the activities envisaged;

7.
Calls on the European Council to invite the Member States which have not yet finalised the ratification
procedures to work out, by the end of the reflection period, credible scenarios as to how they intend to take
matters forward;

8.
Suggests that the European Council develop an appropriate framework so as to enable a specific
dialogue to take place as soon as the political calendar allows with the representatives of those countries
in which the referendum on the Constitutional Treaty had a negative outcome in order to explore whether
and under what conditions it would appear possible for them to resume the ratification procedure;

Calls on the Commission to endorse this approach and to present to the European Council a ‘road-

9.
map’ for implementing it in the best possible manner;

10.
Draws the attention of the Commission to the fact that a constitutional order is essential in order to
make the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union legally binding, build a European democ-
racy and make the Union more capable of action and more social;

Calls on the Commission to draw up a study of the costs incurred as a result of the fact that the

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Constitutional Treaty will not enter into force as originally hoped on 1 November 2006;

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Draws the following conclusions from the discussions with members of national parliaments of the

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Union's Member States which took place on 8 and 9 May 2006 in Brussels:

(a)

(b)

(c)

the need to continue the constitutional process of the European Union, which is anchored in the
concepts of peace and solidarity and other common values, has been confirmed;

there is no doubt that the Member States of the Union will not be able to cope alone with the major
political challenges facing Europe;

it is generally recognised that the Constitutional Treaty would provide the European Union with an
appropriate framework for addressing these challenges;

(d) a deeper analysis will be needed so as to allow proposals to be developed in 2007 which should lead to

a settlement before the next European elections;

(e)

(f)

the interparliamentary dialogue on the constitutional process in which the European Parliament and the
parliaments of the Member States are partners is essential and needs to be continued; welcomes the
announcement by the speaker of the Finnish Parliament that a second parliamentary forum will be held
in December 2006;

refers in this connection to its own proposals that the debates in the parliamentary forums should be
organised in such a way as to enable an intensive and lively exchange to take place, aimed at achieving
a consensus on the central issues relating to the future of Europe and on the way to proceed;

Reaffirms its objective that the necessary constitutional settlement should be ready when the citizens

13.
of the Union are called to the European elections in 2009;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission and the govern-

14.
ments and parliaments of the Member States.