Ref. :  000026739
Date :  2007-06-27
langue :  Anglais
Page d'accueil / Ensemble du site
fr / es / de / po / en

New EU reform treaty in line with AER position

The outcome of the European Council held on 22-23 June is fully in line with the position taken by the Assembly of European Regions (AER), and presented to the German Presidency in February this year. The AER called on EU Member States to set up an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) as soon as possible and to ensure that the European Parliament was properly represented in its work.


At its Brussels summit, the European Council decided that the concept of the European Constitution would be replaced by a new ‘Reform Treaty’. All references to the term ‘Constitution’ and to signs and symbols of the European Union, will be removed. The Reform Treaty will amend and not replace the old Treaties, and will consist of two parts. The first part will be the existing Treaty on European Union, otherwise known as the Maastricht Treaty, which basically corresponds to Parts I and IV of the Constitutional Treaty. The second part of the Reform Treaty will be a Treaty on the Functioning of the Union; this will be an amended version of the Treaty establishing the European Community (otherwise known as the Treaty of Rome), which is comparable to Part III of the Constitutional Treaty. The Intergovernmental Conference, which is due to begin its work in July, will have responsibility for agreeing the amendments to these two treaties, and will take into account most of the provisions agreed under the Constitutional Treaty. Both newly amended treaties have the same legal status and will enter into force at the same time.

The European Council agreed the framework for the negotiations that will take place in the intergovernmental conference, setting out which items of the Constitutional Treaty will be maintained, and which ones will be reformed or dropped. The Council agreed that new Reform Treaty will safeguard the key gains for the regions that the AER had been successful in securing in the Constitutional Treaty. These include the recognition of regional identities, the principle of territorial cohesion and the right of the Committee of the Regions to take the Commission to the European Court of Justice, if the principle of subsidiarity is deemed to have been breached. In some areas, these gains have even been extended further. For example, there will be a new article in the Reform Treaty that will give national parliaments eight weeks to raise objections to a draft law on the grounds that subsidiarity has been breached; this will be advantageous to regions which compose the second chambers of national parliaments, such as the German Länder.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights (Part II of the Constitutional Treaty) will be published as an annex to the treaties. It will have a cross-reference in the reformed Treaty on European Union, which will mean that it is legally binding. However, the United Kingdom has achieved a Protocol which basically allows it to opt out of the Charter. Poland also made a unilateral declaration that seeks to prevent the Charter being used to influence national legislation in public morality or family law.

The agreement on the Reform Treaty will allow the European Union to move forward with confidence and to reform its decision-making procedures. It will allow the EU to confidently address the challenges facing Europe and its regions, such as climate change. The new Treaty will in fact add the fight against climate change to the objectives of environmental policy. New possibilities are also opened up to bring forward action in areas such as energy security, civil protection and public health, and progress is made on common action on terrorism, asylum, migration and human trafficking.

The European Council agreed to retain the provisions on democratic participation, such as the citizens initiative, which allows citizens to request the EU to develop legislation. However, this alone will not be enough to engage citizens in the work of the European Union and to overcome the scepticism which currently surrounds the European project. It is important to ensure that the European Union takes the citizens with it in this reform process. Even if countries chose not to go ahead with the referenda that they had planned to hold on the Constitutional Treaty, there must be a proper flow of information to citizens about the Reform Treaty during the ratification period, which is expected to last until mid-2009, when the Treaty will enter into force. The Council gave the European Parliament an unprecedented 3 representatives in the Intergovernmental Conference, which will also help to ensure that the views of the citizens are not forgotten in the negotiations; the AER will endeavour to work closely with these Parliamentarians. It is imperative that citizens are not given the impression that their views no longer count, as this will only increase the distance between the European Union and the citizens. The AER is ready and willing to equip its member regions with the skills and the information necessary to ensure that their citizens are fully engaged in the debate on the future of Europe.


The Assembly of European Regions - AER (www.aer.eu) is the political organisation of Regions in Europe and their spokesperson at European and international level. Its vocation is to defend the Regions' interests in the political process and develop interregional cooperation. The AER brings together 250 Regions from 32 European Countries and 14 interregional organisations.

AER Contacts: Sergio Nava, Spokesperson, s.nava@a-e-r.org - Mobile: +33 678 695235, Tel.: +33 3 88 22 74 36; Joanna Benfield, Director, AER Brussels Office, j.benfield@a-e-r.org - Mobile: +32 497 453 586, Tel. +32 2 421 8757


Notez ce document
 
 
 
Moyenne des 20 opinions 
Note 2.45 / 4 MoyenMoyenMoyenMoyen
Du même auteur :
 flecheMulticultural, Multiethnic, Multilingual Regions Regional Diversity for Economic Growth
 flecheL’Action Climat repose sur les régions !
 flecheLancement officiel du R20 : les Régions du monde passent à l’action
 flecheSur la route de Copenhague à Cancun : les dirigeants de Régions, d’Etats fédérés et d’entreprises font étape à Bonn
 flecheParis-Ile-de-France Statement of regional governments to the EU - On the road to COP16 and a low carbon economy
 flecheAvec la Déclaration de Paris, les Régions emmènent l’Union européenne vers l’après-Kyoto
 flecheL’Assemblée des Régions d’Europe (ARE) soutient la déclaration du groupe « R20 » pour la lutte contre le changement climatique
 fleche“Subsidiarity is a word” for Google, or is it?
 flecheAppel dirigé à la conférence de Copenhague sur le climat
 flecheEn prévision de la conférence de Copenhague, les Régions du monde parlent d’une seule voix
 flecheMichèle Sabban, Présidente de l'ARE, appelle les régions membres à faire entendre leurs voix en vue de Copenhague
 flecheUne étude relie la performance économique au premier index de décentralisation d'Europe
 flecheDéclaration de Limoges - proclamée à l'issue de la conférence “Réponses régionales au changement climatique” (ARE-Pnud)
 flecheMonsieur Subsidiarité saute d'un pont pour établir un nouveau record du monde
 flecheLe Président Riccardo Illy lance une étude sur la politique régionale 2014+ : l'étude de l'ARE révèle d'importantes failles dans la politique de cohésion de l'Europe
 flecheLes Présidents Illy (ARE) et Barroso (Commission européenne) déclarent : "Les Régions sont des pièces du puzzle européen!"
 flecheDéclaration d’Udine "Identité: les régions, une pièce du puzzle européen"

 flecheAER initiative on the promotion of the Millennium Development Goals : Together for Development on '07/07/07'
 flecheDéclaration de Berlin de l'Assemblée des Régions d'Europe
 flecheLes Régions Européennes signent leur Déclaration de Berlin: des régions fortes sont forcément en faveur d’une Europe forte!
 flecheLet's go to the Theatre: AER Regions launch first Europe-wide "Theatre Initiative"
 flechePensons global et agissons régional ! Les régions exploitent les potentiels de la mondialisation
 flecheDossier "Pensée globale et action régionale"
 fleche"Culture 2007" - AER Factsheet
 flecheEuropean Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008 - AER contribution
 flecheLe cadre juridique et institutionnel des partenariats régionaux
 flecheAssemblée Générale de l'ARE 2006. Thème retenu : la mondialisation
 flecheAssemblée Générale de l'ARE 2006. Thème retenu : la mondialisation.
 flecheLes Régions européennes peuvent – et doivent –s'inscrire dans l'élan mondial en faveur de l'energie durable!
 flecheLes régions d’Europe demandent au Parlement européen de trouver un compromis sur la Directive Services
 flecheDéclaration sur le régionalisme en Europe
13
RECHERCHE
Mots-clés   go
dans 
Traduire cette page Traduire par Google Translate
Partager

Share on Facebook
FACEBOOK
Partager sur Twitter
TWITTER
Share on Google+Google + Share on LinkedInLinkedIn
Partager sur MessengerMessenger Partager sur BloggerBlogger
Autres rubriques
où trouver cet article :