"Helping to shape and carry forward the development of the EU for six months as Presidency is an interesting and challenging task. A great deal depends on the willingness to work together effectively. Thus it was not always easy to find solutions, but our work together was always guided by the commitment to a common Europe and to Europe’s citizens", State Secretary Hans Winkler said on Thursday in the Constitutional Affairs Committee, describing the working relationship with the European Parliament.
“The EU has doubtless come a long way in the last six months, whereby we have always considered it our duty to act as a facilitator for the solution of problems that cannot be solved by any one Member State on its own, as well as to strengthen the confidence of citizens in the European project and contribute to the development of a sense of identity with the Union”, Winkler said.
“The fate of the Constitutional Treaty and the debate on the future of Europe are themes where it was clear to us from the beginning that a solution cannot be found overnight. While we may criticise the horror stories that are constantly propagated about the EU and deplore the fact that people pick up on bad news faster and retain it longer than good news, the only way we can only respond is by offering citizens a real dialogue. This is what we have done, and we intend to continue on this path”, Winkler stressed.
He said there was agreement that, sooner or later, the enlarged Union needed a new institutional framework fit for the future and that the draft Constitutional Treaty was the most suitable basis produced so far. “We are in for the long haul on the constitutional project. The good news is that all Member States have resolved to go this part of the road together, as we have to pull together to convince the public.”
"Even though the constitutional issue has not been resolved, the EU has scope under the existing treaties which we intend to use in order to make the Union’s procedures more efficient, simpler and more open. For example, we have succeeded in opening up the work of the Council and making it more transparent to the interested public", Winkler said. In future, all Council deliberations on legal instruments adopted by the co-decision procedure as well as the votes and the explanations of the vote by Council members will be public.
In his speech, Winkler described the considerable progress made on subsidiarity and better law-making. “We have also been able to carry out reforms to the very complex comitology procedure.” In future not only the Council, but also the European Parliament will monitor the Commission’s implementation of EU legal acts. “Although this is one of the most complex and probably also one of the less attractive subjects, the agreement reached represents a service to democracy in the EU. However unwieldy these issues may be, they are important in practice and have added value for the citizen", Winkler said.
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