Merkel requests solidarity on EU treaty, reform

EU:German chancellor Angela Merkel warned EU leaders not to make an "historic error" by failing to agree a new treaty to reform how the union takes decisions by 2009.

In a ceremony to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the EU, Dr Merkel made a plea for solidarity to try to solve the problem caused by the rejection of the EU constitution by French and Dutch voters in 2005.

She said the EU needed a new dynamism and warned that Europe's success should not be taken for granted.

"Building confidence (in Europe) requires decades, while losing confidence can happen overnight," said Dr Merkel. "It is only if Europe stands together that we can tackle challenges such as terrorism, organised crime and illegal immigration."

In a speech laden with historic references to the EU's success in averting war and promoting democracy, Dr Merkel promised to present a roadmap on how to solve the constitutional issue by the end of Germany's six-month EU presidency. She said she would seek a mandate from all 27 EU leaders in June to set up an intergovernmental conference to conclude the text of a new institutional treaty before 2007's end.

The new treaty would replace the EU constitution, which was negotiated under the Irish presidency in 2004 but rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. It would seek to streamline EU decision-making, and possibly include innovations such as an EU foreign minister and involving national parliaments in more EU decisions.

"Europe as it is today is not capable of taking action," said Dr Merkel, who signed the text of a Berlin declaration along with European Commission president José Manuel Barroso and the president of the European Parliament, Hans Gert Pöttering.

The declaration celebrates Europe's past achievements and common values and calls for leaders to unite in "our aim of placing the EU on a renewed common basis before the European Parliament elections in 2009". The short two-page declaration is intended to add momentum to the process of agreeing a treaty on the EU's rules and procedures.

But the declaration and even the signing ceremony in the German Historical Museum, where EU leaders rose to hear a rendition of the EU anthem Ode to Joy by Beethoven, proved controversial. The text did not include any explicit reference to either EU enlargement or the EU constitution, both of which are controversial topics for certain member states. Instead, the declaration spoke about the EU continuing to thrive on "openness" and placing itself on a "renewed common basis", reflecting the schisms that ran close to the surface at the 50th birthday party.

Some states, such as the Czech Republic, complained in the run-up to the celebrations about the opaque process of agreeing the Berlin declaration, which in the end was drafted exclusively by Germany and not signed by all 27 EU leaders. Poland is also urging a radical rethink in a treaty which would include opening up the politically sensitive voting system used by member states for taking decisions at EU level.

"Realistically, we see 2009 as the year in which the text of the treaty is agreed on. For it to come into effect, I'd say 2011 is realistic," said Polish president Lech Kaczynski - considered one of the principal obstacles to agreeing a successful treaty before 2009.

Pope Benedict also spoke out against the declaration yesterday, asking how governments "could exclude an element as essential to the identity of Europe as Christianity, in which the vast majority of its people continue to identify". The inclusion in any future EU treaty of a reference to Europe's Christian heritage is opposed by France but supported by Poland.

But Italian prime minister Romano Prodi, who harked back to the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 that led to the establishment of the EU in his speech, said it was essential to get a new fundamental covenant or treaty in place. He also said Europe needed to rediscover something of its "creative madness". Europe needed to convince itself the world could be changed and improved, he added.