Chirac has doubts that EU constitution can be agreed
French President Jacques Chirac is “not certain” a compromise accord on a EU constitution can be reached at a crucial summit this week.
Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, speaking at a joint news conference in Paris today, both expressed their support for the draft constitution laid out by the European Convention in July.
Voting rights are among the subjects of contention within the EU. Large countries like France and Germany are at odds with smaller countries like Spain and Poland.
“I hope that an accord can be reached,” Chirac said. “But I am not certain.”
The summit is to be held in Brussels on Friday and Saturday, the deadline set by the 15 member EU for creating a constitution for the body that will expand to 25 members in May.
The two leaders agreed that they would go to Brussels for the summit meeting in an optimistic mindset.
“We are both optimists,” Schroeder said. “We are going resolved to reach an accord. Our goal is success.”
The constitution, whose draft was issued in July, seeks to streamline decision-making and reshape EU institutions to avoid political logjams after the bloc takes in the new members, mainly eastern European, on May 1. It must be adopted unanimously.
“As the president pointed out, our concern is that this constitution should be, if not identical, the closest possible to the proposal of the convention,” Schroeder said.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said that new voting rules – that more closely reflect national populations – have become the toughest issue.
Spain and Poland – which is not yet an EU member – want to retain existing voting system, which the draft text changes to their detriment. They have vowed to veto the constitution if their demands are not met.
Former French President Valery Giscard d’Estaing, who has led the constitutional convention, insists an “unravelling” of the 465-article draft is under way. He has warned leaders that the EU could collapse if opponents went too far.
Schroeder said that member states should be viewed as equal within the EU, and that population differences of members should be considered “as is perfectly legitimate in a democratic system.”
Schroeder said he understood there were “sensitivities” among some countries, and Chirac said that he hoped Spain and Poland will have a change of heart.
“In a negotiation, especially one with so many countries … naturally each one must make a gesture to the others, and we can’t imagine that one or two countries could block the progress of all,” Chirac said.
“So I don’t want to believe that we find ourselves in this situation, and I hope that with Spain as with Poland that an accord can be found,” Chirac said.
