Posted on 09/07/2006 11:24:17 AM PDT by lizol
Christian values and the EU constitution
Chancellor Merkel’s statements on a future EU constitution are in line with the Polish government’s.
Michal Kubicki reports
07.09.06
Polish conservative leaders have long made it clear that they would not put the European Union’s draft constitution to a referendum because it was sure to be rejected. During a recent visit to Brussels, the Polish prime minister stressed, however, that Poland was ready to work constructively to overcome the crisis on the issue. The latest remarks by the German Chancellor on the EU constitution are in line with what Warsaw has advocated right from the start.
Angela Merkel has called for Christian values to be put into an EU constitutional treaty, saying that the treaty should be linked to Christianity and God because Christianity was decisive in the formation of the European Union. Poland, under a social democrat government in 2004, pushed for a direct mention of Christianity in the document. The ruling conservatives and the opposition liberals hold the same view.
Small wonder that Germany’s stand is good news for Warsaw, as Jacek Kucharczyk of the Institute of Public Affairs argues.
‘From that point of view it be would a step forward making it easier for Poland to adopt a constitution in its present form or some new form based on the present form, which is the most likely scenario. However, I have to say, and it was made clear by prime minister Kaczynski, that the Polish government does not think they can trade Christian values for the Nice Treaty provisions which provide Poland will the very strong position within the European Council. So apparently the government is happy with the news that Christian values are back, so to say, but it doesn’t mean that it would be much more flexible on the real bone of contention in this constitutional quarrel as far as Poland is concerned, namely the question of the division of power within the EU.’
EU expert Jaros³aw Petz stresses that while a new discussion about incorporating Christian values into the constitution is necessary and important from Poland’s view, it’ll be the easy part of the debate.
“The difficult part is about the distribution of power controlling the Union, the division of power between the Parliament, the Commission and the Council, and the power of other European institutions.”
Polish Prime Minister Jaros³aw Kaczynski said recently that a public debate on the new shape of the constitutional treaty will begin in the autumn so that the government will be able to present its proposals early next year. According to Marek Cichocki of the College of Europe in Warsaw, Polish priorities will not change.
‘It’s important for Poland to have a guarantee that the new treaty will not change the nature of European integration in the direction of creating any kind of European state. In my opinion we have to find a compromise on how to give German more political importance without changing the balance between the other states in the European Union.”
Critics of a direct mention of Christian values in an EU constitution point to the continent’s changing demographics and plans for Turkey’s accession to the bloc. Jacek Kucharczyk of the Institute of Public Affairs says that such critical voices don’t bother Germany at all.
“From the point of view of Chancellor Merkel, this can be a clever way of keeping Turkey out. We knew that the Christian Democrats in Germany are quite unhappy with the prospect of Turkish membership. And in fact that could be one of the reasons why they are so keen on putting Christian values into the constitution.”
In its present form, the preamble to the EU constitution, which was rejected by France and the Netherlands last year, says that it draws inspiration fro religious and humanistic inheritance of Europe.
From a diplomatic point of view a very smart move from the Polish side. Let's hope that Germany and Poland find ways to turn this into solid results.
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