“It is pure common sense to suggest that the most feasible way to ensure the ratification of the European Treaty is its simplification: that said, it is absolutely necessary to keep some fundamental pillars of the Treaty, such as the extension of the fields in which the majority voting system applies”: on the eve of the European Council, which is set for a make or break decision on the future of the EU Treaty, AER (aer.eu) President Riccardo Illy suggests to EU leaders what he considers as the only way forward, in order to move on with the ratification process.According to President Illy, certain risks might, however, ensue as a consequence of this simplification: if you reopen the debate on shortening the text, by excluding certain provisions, “there may also be a discussion on the remaining provisions. This would be extremely dangerous”, said Mr. Illy.But, on the other hand, to once again come up with the same text as already approved by the European Convention is not really an option: “it was already difficult to approve that Treaty with an EU-15, it became extremely difficult with an EU-25, and it is now impossible with an EU-27”, says President Illy.

Reasons for the failure of the ratification of the Treaty
and the necessity for a new European political perspective

Mr. Riccardo Illy also analysed the reasons at the heart of the two rejections of the Treaty, in France and The Netherlands. “My personal position, which I have already made clear on several occasions, even if it is not shared by all the AER member regions, is the following: the reason behind the “No” vote was -on the one hand- the insufficient, if not incorrect information on the real content of the Treaty; on the other hand the “No” vote resulted from the inadequate innovations contained in the text. This text looks very much like the sheer sum of all the previous Treaties, with the exception of a few advances”.

Only a handful of people in Europe today support “bolder” changes, such as the setting up of a Confederation of Member States, a project that would strengthen the links among the European nations. President Illy believes that there should be a review of the duties conferred to the European Union, in order that it bears a greater resemblance to a federal State: the European Parliament could become the EU Chamber of Deputies, while the European Council could turn into the States’ Chamber (similar to the German model of the Bundestag and Bundesrat). Finally, the European Commission could become a real European Government.

According to President Riccardo Illy, this change should also include a different system for the appointment of the European Commissioners: at the moment this is a prerogative of the national Governments. But “the European citizens feel the EU is far away from them. In particular, they don’t consider the European Commissioners as their real choice. It would be better if the European Commissioners would be elected by the national Parliaments, or -even better- by the European Parliament”.

Mr. Riccardo Illy concluded his statement by launching an appeal on EU enlargement: it is not thinkable that the states of the former Yugoslavia stay outside the EU. He identified serious risks in their exclusion: a) they are already surrounded by EU member States, b) South-Eastern Europe currently offers a great potential in terms of human resources, and c) there are concrete risks of instability in this area, especially in Kosovo.

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