Category: News and Views
Austrian presidency to revive EU constitution debate
09.01.2006 - 09:52 CET | By Mark Beunderman
Austrian leader Wolfgang Schussel has said his country, currently at the helm of the EU, is aiming to resuscitate the debate on the EU constitution.
Mr Schussel noted on Sunday (8 January) on German television according to Austrian media "We have planned to revive the discussion on the constitution."
He added "A new constitution would be better then the quite fragmented conglomerate of many texts that we have today."
The Austrian chancellor did not specify whether his country will press for the constitution text as agreed by EU leaders in June 2004 or for a different
solution.
The 2004 treaty was shelved last year following negative referendums in France and the Netherlands.
Austrian officials had earlier indicated that Vienna will try and lay the foundation for a new consensus between member states supporting further ratification
of the constitution as well as those that have said farewell to the treaty.
Vienna wants to achieve a "roadmap" for the constitution at the EU leaders' summit in June.
As a sign that the current constitutional text is not untouchable for the Austrian presidency, Mr Schussel said on 31 December that deregulation and subsidiarity
(the principle that political decisions should be taken at the lowest possible level) should be "taken seriously."
This remark was echoed over the weekend by Austria’s vice chancellor Hubert Gorbach, who suggested that EU powers should be curbed more firmly.
Mr Gorbach said the EU should say farewell to "excessive regulation and bureaucracy," adding that there should be "clear boundaries … which issues should
be decided on the national level and which on the EU level," according to Der Standard.
Certain parts of the constitution could be re-negotiated, Mr Gorbach indicated, stressing that he spoke in a personal rather than an official capacity.
Mr Gorbach is a member of the Alliance for the Future of Austria (BZO), founded by the right-wing politician Jorg Haider.