EU:Charlie McCreevy believes the perception that the EU is a 'big boys' club' is harming the union, writes Jamie Smythin Brussels
Internal market commissioner Charlie McCreevy has accused some of the strongest supporters of the EU constitution of hypocrisy for pandering to business interests at home while talking up Europe abroad.
He has also warned that the target date of mid-2009 to find a new EU institutional agreement is optimistic, due in part to lukewarm public support for any new treaty.
"I wouldn't like to hold out that date in stone and I think the president of the [European] Commission hasn't done so either . . . I don't see this as an easy road to travel," he said.
"Yes, I have heard ministers and academics and the elite speaking about this [constitution], but I haven't seen the people of Europe becoming more what I would term integrationalist or more European . . . And we have to go back and ask the people on the street to ratify this," Mr McCreevy told The Irish Times in an interview.
In a reference to states such as Spain and Italy, he said politicians were giving contradictory messages to the public by asking them to ratify new EU treaties while blaming Brussels for bringing in laws that could affect rights or jobs at home.
"The same people who are speaking about the need for a new constitution, back in their own member states seem to be against any free open market or harmonised rules or regulations which would really make an integrated Europe," said Mr McCreevy, who is currently fighting Spain, Italy and France in cross-border merger and liberalisation cases.
Spain and Italy are among the strongest supporters of the EU constitution, which remains in stasis since being rejected by Dutch and French voters in 2005. Last Friday Madrid hosted a "friends of the constitution" meeting in an attempt to galvanise support for the treaty among the 18 states that have already ratified it in the EU. Berlin, which is chairing talks as holder of the EU presidency, also wants to maintain the substance of the constitution to streamline EU decision-making.
But following the French and Dutch vote against the treaty, France, the UK, the Netherlands and Poland are all seeking to amend the treaty radically in the negotiations with Berlin.
"I think the original big mistake was calling it a constitution, because it isn't one," said Mr McCreevy.
"When the process started out, some people had a grandiose plan and we thought it would be a tome of tremendous importance. But in the negotiation it became simply a new treaty, but people weren't brave enough to say this."
Yet the final text is a delicate balance, and moving away from that in any shape or form - subtracting from it or adding to it - is not just a stroke of the pen, said Mr McCreevy, who supports Berlin's decision to hold the treaty talks in private during its EU presidency.
"People are more likely to tell you what their bottom line really is in a one-to-one rather than in the full glare of the national or international media," he said.
But Mr McCreevy is cautious about the chances of a deal by 2009.
The French elections could further complicate the matter, he said. "The danger of course is that in the heat of electoral battle it will be demanded of both candidates to make commitments saying we will never do this or that . . . I saw an example of this in the 1980s when Charlie Haughey and Garret FitzGerald got caught by the pro-life people and committed themselves to have a referendum on abortion."
There could also be problems associated with getting ratification for a new treaty even if heads of state eventually agree on a compromise text, Mr McCreevy said.
"What happens if other states apart from France and the Netherlands say no? We stopped the clock for the French and the Dutch . . . There is already an impression in some member states that this is a big boys' club and not everyone is equal," he warned.
Mr McCreevy experienced the "big boys' club" first hand before Christmas when one of his flagship proposals, on copyright levies, was blocked by commission president José Manuel Barroso after pressure was exerted by France. So are there hard feelings? "What was a surprise was the vociferous lobbying at the very last minutes of the game," he said. "[But] I am nearly 30 years in politics . . . so I just move on to the next thing."