European public prosecutor role proposed

As a further draft text for a European constitution was released, oneGerman MEP called the work so far extraordinarily disappointing…

As a further draft text for a European constitution was released, oneGerman MEP called the work so far extraordinarily disappointing

Proposals for a European public prosecutor, increased powers for the European Parliament and treaty status for the Charter of Fundamental Rights were included in a further draft text for a European constitutional treaty by the Convention on the Future of Europe yesterday.

The final convention document is due to be presented to the next European summit in Salonika on June 20th but already a senior politician in the European Parliament has described the fruits of the 105-member Convention's work to date as "extraordinarily disappointing".

Mr Elmar Brok, the German MEP who chairs the conservative group in the parliament, accused the larger member-states of acting in their own narrow national interests rather than the broader interests of the Union.

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"We get the impression we are constantly tilting at windmills," he told a news conference in Brussels. "This is not acceptable to small member-states. Do we want a directorate in Europe where the big six states decide everything? If so, it will be the end of the European Union."

The German Christian Democrat accused the Convention's praesidium, headed by former French President Mr Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, of ignoring the views of convention members and smaller member-states.

The proposals would reduce the Commission to "a machine for making the single market run" and the European Parliament to a rubber stamp, said Mr Brok.

The provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights have been public knowledge for some time but there is disagreement over its status and interpretation.

The convention wants the charter to be an integral part of the new European constitution but there are objections that this will override national constitutional law.

The latest convention text calls for a European public prosecutor to deal with cross-border fraud in the EU. This is expected to arouse controversy, with some politicians objecting that the status of national legal systems would be adversely affected.

Members of the euro single currency zone, which includes Ireland, would get new powers to set their own economic policy guidelines and monitor budget deficits without other EU states being consulted.

The so-called Eurogroup of the 12 nations sharing the single currency would also elect a longer-term president of their informal meetings, chosen by a simple majority for two years, instead of rotating among member-states every six months.

The convention is a consultative body and EU member-states must agree unanimously on a new constitutional treaty in negotiations beginning in October.

The draft articles published yesterday propose a significant extension of qualified majority voting to areas such as social policy, energy, asylum and immigration and also a bigger role for the European Parliament.

They also provide for the possible creation of a European public prosecutor to help fight organised crime and include a mutual defence clause - a move which Britain, for example, claims would undermine the role of NATO. The draft accepts the right of national veto on foreign policy proposals, taking away a role envisaged for the Commission in an earlier draft.

Denmark, which has a history of rejecting EU proposals on occasion, will hold a referendum on the forthcoming constitution.

"What is at stake is so new and so big that it is right to hold a referendum and therefore there will be a referendum in Denmark on the new EU treaty," the Ritzau news agency quoted the Prime Minister, Mr Anders Fogh Rasmussen, as saying after a cabinet meeting.

Mr Giscard d'Estaing told AFP in Prague he was confident a compromise could be reached on the final document. However, he did not rule out a text comprising options rather than simple proposals, when the draft is submitted to the EU summit.

"The differences are not great. There is no basic problem," he said. "Options are not desirable and only to be used when there is no other choice," he said.

Additional reporting by news agencies. Convention website: european-convention.eu.int/