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Draft EU constitution is agreed
BRUSSELS, Belgium -- A forum drawing up a constitution for the European Union has agreed a draft text to be presented to EU leaders at a summit in Greece next week. The sweeping constitutional changes include a permanent president, joint foreign policy and a legally binding charter of rights. "After hearing all the speeches today... I will go to present in your name to the European Council in Thessaloniki, our joint work as the foundation of a future treaty creating a constitution of Europe," Valery Giscard d'Estaing told the final plenary session of the 105-member Convention he headed. The 25 current and future member states will have the final say in inter-governmental negotiations starting in October. D'Estaing said he would recommend to them that the closer they stuck to the text adopted after 16 months of debate, the easier their task would be. However, in a sign of a fierce struggle ahead, 18 of the 28 governments which took part in the convention signaled on Thursday their intention to fight to preserve weighted voting rights that give small countries more power in the Union than their population would justify. Speakers representing EU governments, national parliaments, the European Parliament and the European Commission all broadly endorsed the outcome, while hinting at lingering differences. German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said: "For me, the constitution is the most important treaty since the foundation of the European Economic Community (in 1957)." Key changes would include the appointment of a long-term president of the European Council for up to five years, replacing the current rotating presidency, under which each member state takes the helm for six months. The draft also proposes an EU foreign minister and a slimmed-down European Commission of 15 full members, based on the principle of strict rotation to ensure equality of all states. The Commission is the EU's executive body. The text also proposes a major simplification of legislative and legal procedures and a big extension of decision-making by majority vote, notably in the field of justice and home affairs, and the creation of a European public prosecutor. After the summit at Thessaloniki, Greece, on June 20-21, the Convention will still have to fine-tune part of the constitution dealing with EU policies. An Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) due to start in October will have the final say on the whole text. Ten mostly ex-communist states are due to join the EU's current 15 on May 1, 2004, with more set to follow. Some delegates criticized the failure of the draft text to abolish member states' right of veto in the sensitive areas of foreign policy and taxation. "With 25 members, the EU will have its hands tied in representing our common interests in the world (by retaining the veto)," Elmar Brok, a senior European Parliament member, told Reuters. D'Estaing stands firmD'Estaing was sticking to his guns. "Foreign policy is not going to come into the qualified majority voting area. Imagine what would have happened on Iraq, this would have ripped Europe asunder," he said, referring to the deep divisions triggered by this year's Iraq crisis. Under d'Estaing's draft, an EU decision would go through if supported by at least half of member states representing 60 percent of the EU's total population. Spain, Poland and many small countries prefer the voting weights they won in the Nice Treaty. That treaty gave Poland and Spain 27 votes each, only two fewer than Germany, which has more than twice their population. France, Britain and Italy also have 29 votes each.
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