Irish Push for Constitution Deal

The European Union's Irish presidency relaunched efforts to reach agreement on an EU constitution on Monday at meetings in Belgium and Spain.

Foreign Minister Brian Cowen said a Brussels meeting of foreign ministers revealed "considerable common ground" as well as "unresolved complex issues".

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Bertie Ahern held talks in Madrid with his Spanish counterpart Minister Jose Maria Aznar.

Mr Ahern has held consultations with a number of EU leaders and will report to a summit in Brussels in March on the prospects for agreement.

Mr Cowen said he had received "strong encouragement from his counterparts to "proceed with a real sense of urgency".

"There is a fair degree of realisation that we need, if we can at all, to resolve this matter before the (June) European elections."

Polish Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz agreed that it was important to find consensus soon - before the enlargement of the EU in 1 May.

However, he showed no sign of compromising on the issue of voting weights in the Council of Ministers, which prevented agreement on schedule at December's summit.

He insisted the EU should stick with voting arrangements agreed at Nice in 2000, which give Poland and Spain almost as many votes as the four biggest EU members.

He said Europe should "get some practical experience" with the Nice system before deciding on any changes.

"There is not rational argument to take any final decision concerning this... right now," he added.

Smallest EU states meet to avert plans for president
by Stephen Castle in Brussels
02 April 2003
The seven smallest European Union countries met yesterday to try to forestall plans by bigger members for a powerful new EU president... [Y]esterday's gathering in Luxembourg was the clearest sign yet that the debate over the future of Europe is polarised between the views of the large and small nations. The meeting of leaders from Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Ireland, Portugal and Belgium underlined a new determination to protect the position of the EU's minnows, as crucial decisions on the future of Europe approach... Plans for a new president are backed by Britain, France, Spain and Italy -- with less enthusiastic support from Germany... While the seven small countries share some common ground, they are divided on their general approach to European integration. Belgium and Luxembourg favour a federalist model while Ireland and Finland want to protect the powers of member states.
Convention wrestles with treaty ratification
March 28, 2003
The articles are both politically and legally very awkward and have been the subject of some discussion in the Convention's steering committee, the presidium... Sources say that one of the burning questions will be how to negotiate the terms of a new agreement with the country that wants to leave the EU. If the state refuses to accept the terms of the agreement that have been reached, this will put the Union in a very difficult legal position. The other issue is ratification of the treaty and what happens to a country which rejects it in a referendum. With the spectre of the Irish rejection of the Nice Treaty in the background, several EU members want to prevent a situation where they are held up from going forward by one state. Convention president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing put the cat among the pigeons last year when he suggested that a state must ratify the treaty or be outside the Union... According to international rules - The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties - all member states have to agree unanimously at a European Council to leave one treaty and enter the Union created by the Union. If one country does not give its assent, then they simply cannot proceed with setting up a new Union with the new constitutional treaty. The other problem is also ratification of the new Treaty. If Denmark -- as a country that will put this to referendum -- says no, what do other countries, who have already said yes, do?
EU wary of ending Israel's isolation at UN
Reuters
Under arcane United Nations rules, Israel should be part of the Asian regional group, which includes its Middle East neighbors. But Arab nations have opposed its membership for years so Israel is seeking a place in the Western group. Many committee posts as well as the 10 nonpermanent seats on the Security Council are nominated by regional groups to retain a geographical balance. Although some countries never get nominated for a seat, only Israel cannot compete at all... Within the European Community, diplomats said Germany, Sweden and Belgium were strongly in favor of Israeli membership while France and Britain kept a low profile. At the Nov. 26 meeting, Spain was said to have raised objections although Italy, Ireland and Portugal had voiced reservations in earlier discussions, diplomats said.
Crossing the Bosphorous...
to become part of Europe?
by The Globalist
Friday, November 01, 2002
Within the EU, France has already created a major controversy with its ban of head scarves in the country's schools. Many Muslims in France consider this a violation of their right to practice their religion. That is a right granted by the EU's Charter of fundamental human rights...

And a current story:

Chirac to Seek Law
Banning Head Scarves
by Elaine Ganley
Dec 17 2003
French President Jacques Chirac asked parliament on Wednesday for a law banning Islamic head scarves and other religious insignia in public schools, a move that aims at shoring up the nation's secular tradition, despite cries that it will stigmatize France's 8 million Muslims. Chirac said he also wanted to open the way for businesses to impose the same ban for reasons of safety or customer relations... Chirac said he would push for a law to be enacted in time for the school year that begins next autumn. Islamic head scarves, Jewish skullcaps and large crucifixes would fall under the ban. Adoption of a law seemed likely, as lawmakers from both sides of the political spectrum have voiced support for a law on secularism... As expected, Chirac rejected a commission recommendation to establish the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur and the Muslim Eid el-Kabir feast as school holidays. France's Muslim community -- 8 percent of the country's population -- is the largest in Western Europe. France's Jewish community, about 1 percent of the population, is also Western Europe's largest.
Who's Side Is Turkey's Erdogan On?
by Louis Meixler
Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that he sees Muslim Turkey as a bridge between East and West, a secular Muslim state that can help heal the rift between an angry Islamic world and the Christian West... But critics... point out that the young Erdogan was once quoted as saying, "democracy is not an aim but a means to an end" and was later sentenced to four months in prison for challenging the secular state. He also opposed the European Union in the past. "If he hasn't changed, there will probably come a time when there will be a major confrontation in Turkish society," said Ilter Turan, a political scientist with Istanbul Bilgi University. "I have known of no instance in the past in which the state has lost." ...Party activists now speak of the need for EU reforms that would include ending bans on pro-Islamic political parties or politicians.
France blunts German move on Turkish entry
by John Hooper in Berlin
Ian Traynor in Ljubljana
The deep divisions in Europe over admitting Turkey to the EU were thrown into sharp relief last night when it became clear that the German chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, had failed in a bold attempt to cajole France's president, Jacques Chirac, into backing early entry... Sources close to the talks, however, said the Franco-German proposal was for a meeting of EU states at the end of 2004 -and then only to discuss Turkey's progress towards achieving the membership criteria. The new government in Ankara, which wants the EU to set a firm date for the start of accession talks, would regard such an outcome as disappointing, if not downright humiliating... Michael Glos, a leading Christian Democrat, told MPs that "Turkey is neither economically nor politically ripe for entry into the European Union". He said an expansion of the EU beyond the Bosphorus would "destroy the European project".
Annan Hopeful on Settlement to Unify Divided Cyprus
by Elaine Johanson
The EU meets in Copenhagen December 12 and 13, to vote in new members... The European Union is expected to invite 10 countries, including Cyprus, to join the bloc in 2004... Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has urged the EU not to jeopardize the peace effort by admitting a divided Cyprus. Mr. Denktash, who is recovering from major heart surgery, has yet to give the U.N. a clear answer on its reunification plan. The proposed settlement calls for two component states on Cyprus, joined under a rotating presidency. It also calls on the Turkish Cypriots to give up some of the territory they now claim... Cyprus has been divided since Turkey invaded the island in 1974, in response to a coup in Nicosia engineered by Greece. The prospect of EU membership is considered a big catalyst for a settlement, after many years of failed diplomacy aimed at reuniting the two communities.
Britain to support Turkey on date for EU application talks
by Donald Macintyre in Ankara
Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, ...urged Mr Erdogan to secure parliamentary ratification for a new raft of human rights reforms – approved by the Turkish cabinet yesterday – in time for the EU summit in Copenhagen, on Thursday and Friday next week, which will consider Turkish candidacy... Turkey is widely criticised for its record of torture in prisons and other abuses, but last year it introduced 34 measures to improve human rights, followed by another 14 in August, including the abolition of the death penalty. Yesterday the cabinet approved a 36-point package aimed at meeting EU criteria for entry... Turkey will dominate much of the Copenhagen summit because its support is pivotal in two areas. Ankara can help secure an agreement between Nato and the EU on pooling command and control assets for Europe's security and defence policy – and, more crucial still, its support is needed for reaching political agreement on the UN-brokered plan for the future of Cyprus.
Nations who block change may be banished from EU
by Stephen Castle in Brussels
According to a document obtained by The Independent, any EU nation that tries to block the constitution could be thrown out of the Union if it is in a clear minority. Officials are concerned that, with the EU enlarging to 25 member states, a single country could block the entire constitution, in the same way as Ireland almost halted the Nice Treaty... Mr Prodi's blueprint, drafted amid secrecy, also calls for an end to national vetoes on all issues except that of admitting new member states. It proposes majority voting by EU governments on foreign policy, the election of the Commission's president by MEPs, an increase in the powers of the Commission on foreign policy and for the EU to adopt a Nato-like mutual defence guarantee for its members.
Prodi stirs up rebellion with radical reform plan
by Stephen Castle in Brussels
An internal rebellion was sparked at the EU yesterday when Romano Prodi, the European Commission's president, launched a draft constitution for Europe. Pitching him in opposition to Tony Blair and some of his own commissioners, Mr Prodi said EU nations who opposed constitutional reform should be ejected from the union. He also demanded an end to national vetoes in decision-making, a host of new powers for the European Commission and a Commission president elected by MEPs... Because of the tide of opposition within his own commission, Mr Prodi was forced to present the constitutional blueprint as a working document rather than as a formal document.
MEPs refuse to leave the Brussels 'gravy train'
by Stephen Castle in Brussels
MEPs have rejected a compromise plan to reform their pay and perks, dealing a severe blow to prospects of the European Parliament shedding its "gravy train" image before the EU expands in 2004... MEPs from the 15 EU countries earn the same salary as national MPs, creating large disparities in earnings between, for example, affluent Austrians and poorly-paid Spaniards and Greeks. Many MEPs compensate by abusing the system of travel expenses, which allows them to claim for full-price air fares without providing proof of what they paid. They take cheaper flights and pocket the difference.

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