The Irish Government should attempt to conclude negotiations on the European constitution before the European elections in June, the EU Committee of the Regions urged yesterday. Tim O'Brien reports.
The Committee of the Regions - an EU body made up of regional representatives from across the 15 member-states - also urged urgent action on crime, pointing out that there were now three violent attacks on people every minute across the EU.
Addressing the issue of the European constitution at a meeting in Dublin Castle, the president of the committee, Mr Peter Straub of Germany, said there was a unanimous feeling among delegates that a successful conclusion was now desirable.
Mr Straub said the issue was "now all the more important after the events last week", and he felt the existing Spanish opposition to the proposed constitution had been "diluted" by the result of Spain's general election.
"It might now be possible to have the treaty adopted, and the Irish presidency should push ahead," he said, adding that the unanimous views of the committee would be communicated to the Taoiseach by letter.
Mr Straub was supported by Mr Isidoro Gottardo, representative of the Italian Friuli Venezia Giulia Region, who said "everything has changed since the events in Madrid.
"It is now important that the EU constitution is in place before enlargement. We should urge our Irish colleagues that these very strong feelings see action."
Mr Gottardo added that the draft constitution recognised the importance of the Committee of the Regions in fostering European integration in terms of cross-border contact, twinning, cohesion and regional development.
Representing Dublin, Lord Mayor Royston Brady said it was also his hope that the heads of State "will provide the conditions to conclude at their meeting, that the time is ripe for the Inter-Governmental Conference to be reconvened".
However, speaking after the meeting, the Minister of State for Europe, Mr Dick Roche, told The Irish Times that while "a lot of good work" has been done behind the scenes, "we still have to conclude discussions with a number of countries".
He said the discussions had been more positive recently. However, while he acknowledged changes in attitude in Spain, Germany and Poland, the question was how far have Poland and Germany moved.
The new administration would not be fully in place in Spain for some time yet, he added.
Mr Roche said the Government would reconvene the Inter-Governmental Conference if it "believed the agreement was there", but not unless that was so.
He added that the EU Council of Ministers' meeting next Thursday and Friday would be a good place to take soundings.
The Committee of the Regions also discussed a new Commission report which revealed three cases of violent crime and three cases of burglary take place every minute in the current 15 EU member-states.
The Commission report called for immediate agreement on pan-European crime prevention measures, and a revamp of the European Crime Prevention Network (EUCPN) by the end of this year.
According to Commission "victimisation studies", individual feelings of insecurity have increased steadily across the EU between 1996 and 2002, with women and the elderly feeling the most insecure.
According to the report, the "volume crimes" of burglary and violent crime are from the victims' point of view the most serious and costly types of crime.