OCTOBER 2005
French President Jacques Chirac launched a fierce attack on the EU Commission. Brussels had failed to protect European interests in world trade talks and its defence of European jobs had been weak, fuelling public hostility towards the once-popular European ideal, he claimed.
"The vocation of Europe and of European institutions is also, and above all, to defend Europe, to defend the economic, financial and social interests of Europe," said Chirac. "Is it normal for the Commission to be disinterested in a problem?" he asked. "This is one of the reasons that explains the current disavowal of Europe... It is a problem that must be looked at."
Jose Barroso tells Jacques Chirac off,“We all have a duty not to … attack the European institutions, because Europe is more necessary than ever.” (...) "There are two kinds of populism we have now in Europe: one is a kind of populism that is against the market, the second is a kind of populism that is against the very idea of Europe and wants to put the blame on the institutions of Europe," he said He joins others who think that the no vote was not against the Constitution.
“We will not have a Constitution in the next two or three years. I regret that… I am convinced that the vote against the treaty was less to do with the text and more the context. Instead of insisting on the text, let’s change the context… I think we could do a lot more with the current institutions if certain national leaders had more European spirit. Let’s try then, to make the most of the current institutions.”
Talking about Turkey, he says, “Some people think that the enlargement is a weakening of Europe, a dilution. I think exactly the opposite: the reality is that the different enlargements have brought the need for more integration. For a big Europe we need big policy.”
In a new book, former Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin announces that “the Constitution is dead”, and suggests several ways for Europe to “unblock” itself, including a reduction in both the costs of the CAP and the UK rebate and EU harmonisation of taxes.
According to Le Figaro and Le Monde the European Green Party are calling for a new EU Constitution and a referendum on it held across Europe on the same day as the 2009 European parliamentary elections.
Pierre Lequiller, President of the French National Assembly's committee on European Union is quoted in Le Monde saying, "The Constitution's ratification process must continue."
In an article in the Financial Times former Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar calls for the EU to give up on the EU Constitution and instead to focus on economic reform. He says, "do not touch the institutional model. The Treaty of Nice is the expression of a consensus that made it possible to carry out the enlargement of the EU, as well as necessary institutional reform."
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