Calls for a different Europe
October 2005
After the rejection of the EU constitution, some different visions for Europe appear.
The former Spanish prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar calls for creation of "great Atlantic economic area". He wants 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. It would not be serious leadership to approve a treaty defending a consensus, to promote the ratification of that treaty and then, two months later, to say that the treaty is inconvenient and that we should devise yet another internal distribution of power in Europe… We need more liberalisation, a stronger single market, more openness, more flexibility and lower taxes.”
He also calls for greater cooperation with the US and recommends the creation of a “great Atlantic economic area, so we can make the most of opportunities in a globalised world.”
The Czech President, Vaclav Klaus argues likewise: “The EU needs a change. To be satisfied with recognition of the status quo and with an eventual slowing down in further unification, is not sufficient… We should try to create something like an Organization of European States, whose members will be individual European states rather than the citizens of these states directly, as suggested by the European constitution".
Klaus calls for an “Organisation of European States”.
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