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EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT GGG G G G G 1999 G G 2004 GGG Committee on Constitutional Affairs 4 September 2003 PE 323.600/1-32 COMPROMISE AMENDMENTS 1-32 Draft report (PE 323.600) José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos on the draft Treaty on the European Constitution and EP opinion on the convocation of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) (11047/2003 – C5-0340/2003 – 2003/0902(CNS)) Motion for a resolution Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 1 (Compromise amendment replacing Recital C and Amendments 12 (Carlos Carnero González), 15 (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 16 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg, Jean- Maurice Dehousse), 17 (Carlos Carnero González) and 18 (Andrew Nicholas Duff)) Recital C C. the quality of the Convention's work (deletion) on the preparation of the draft Constitution and the reform of the Treaties fully vindicates the decision of the Laeken European Council to move away from the intergovernmental method by adopting Parliament's proposal for the setting up of a constitutional Convention; the result of the Convention, in which the representatives of the European Parliament and of national Parliaments played a central role, shows that open discussions within the Convention are by far more successful than the method followed up to now of intergovernmental conferences held in camera, Or. en AM\506078EN.doc PE 323.600/1-32 EN EN Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 2 (Compromise amendment replacing Recital C and Amendments 19 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg, Jean-Maurice Dehousse, Luís Marinho, Hans-Peter Martin), 20 (Camilo Nogueira Román), 21 (Carlos Carnero González) and 22 (Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann)) Recital D D. it expects to be actively and continually involved not only in the Intergovernmental Conference but also in the future phases of the constitutional process, Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 3 (Compromise amendment replacing Recital F and Amendments 26 (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 29 (Jo Leinen, Jean-Maurice Dehousse, Luís Marinho) and 30 (Joachim Wuermeling) Recital F F. the Convention on the Future of Europe, as well as its predecessor on the Charter of Fundamental Rights, has initiated a new phase in the European integration, during which the European Union will consolidate its legal order into a constitutional order binding its states and citizens, even if the final approval of the Constitution will be given in the form of an international Treaty, Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 4 (Compromise amendment replacing Recital G and Amendments 31 (Jean-Maurice Dehousse), 32 (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 33 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg), 34 (Jacques F. Poos), 35 (Joachim Wuermeling), 36 (Andrew Nicholas Duff) and 37 (Andrew Nicholas Duff)) Recital G G. (deletion) despite the originally many different opinions of the Conventioneers, a large majority of all four component parts of the Convention, including that of the European Parliament, supported the Convention's final proposal, which is therefore based on a fresh and large consensus, even if not all of Parliament's demands concerning democracy, transparency and efficiency in the European Union were met; to reopen the important compromises reached within the Convention would not only jeopardise the progress made by the Convention in re-founding the Union on a more efficient and PE 323.600/1-32 2/14 AM\506078EN.doc EN democratic constitutional basis but would also subvert the whole Convention method, Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 5 (Compromise amendment replacing indent b. of Recital H and Amendments 38b. (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 45 (Joachim Wuermeling), 46 (Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann) and 47 (Richard Corbett)) Recital H, indent b. b. confirmation of the unique nature and of the dual legitimacy of the Union drawn from its states and citizens; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 6 (Compromise amendment replacing indent c. of Recital H and Amendments 38 (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 48 (Richard Corbett), 49 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg, Luís Marinho) and 51 (Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann)) [see also amendment 290 (Teresa Almeida Garrett) for the Portuguese and the Spanish versions] Recital H, indent c. c. commitment to the preservation of the equivalence principle between the states and the interinstitutional balance, which guarantees the Union's double legitimacy; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 7 (Compromise amendment replacing indent e. of Recital H and Amendments 38e. (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 53 (Pervenche Berès), 54 (Ursula Schleicher, Karl von Wogau, Elmar Brok, Joachim Wuermeling, Konrad K. Schwaiger), 55 (Carlos Carnero González) and 56 (Sylvia- Yvonne Kaufmann)) Recital H, indent e. e. development of a historically rooted system of values which, beyond a common AM\506078EN.doc 3/14 PE 323.600/1-32 EN market and in the framework of a social market economy, aims at a better quality of life for Europe's citizens and society at large, as well as economic growth, stability and full employment, the stronger promotion of sustainable development and better implementation of the citizenship of the Union; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 8 (Compromise amendment replacing indent g. of Recital H and Amendments 38f.bis and g. (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 58 (Camilo Nogueira Román), 59 (Richard Corbett), DEVE 1 and AFET 1 + 2) Recital H, indent g. g. the overall constitutional settlement should lead to the restoration of the Union's credibility and its enhanced role at home and abroad; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 9 (Compromise amendment replacing Paragraph G and Amendments 60, 1st sentence (Johannes Voggenhuber, Monica Frassoni, Sir Neil MacCormick) and 65 (Richard Corbett) Paragraph 1 1. Welcomes the progress in the European integration and democratic development represented by the Convention's proposed "Constitution for Europe", to be established through an appropriate Treaty establishing a European Constitution, this one being the text expressing the political will of the European citizens and the Member States in a solemn and comprehensive way. Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 10 (Compromise amendment replacing paragraph 2 and Amendments 66 (Andrew Nicholas Duff), 67 (Carlos Carnero González) and 68 (Pervenche Berès)) PE 323.600/1-32 4/14 AM\506078EN.doc EN Paragraph 2 2. Notes with satisfaction that the draft Constitution has entrenched to an important extent the values, objectives, (deletion) principles, (deletion) structures and institutions of Europe's constitutional heritage and has in that way given to the Draft to a great degree not only the quality of a constitutional text but also the capability of its continuous evolution; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 11 (Compromise amendment replacing paragraph 4 and Amendments 76 (Andrew Nicholas Duff) and 77 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg, Jean-Maurice Dehousse)) Paragraph 4 4. Greatly welcomes the installation of the Charter of Fundamental Rights as an integral, legally binding part of the Constitution (Part II) and stresses the importance of fundamental rights as crucial element of a civic, social and democratic Union; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 12 (Compromise amendment replacing paragraph 6 and Amendments 85 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg, Jean-Maurice Dehousse, Luís Marinho), 87 (Carlos Carnero González) and 88 (Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann)) Paragraph 6 6. Welcomes the introduction of a hierarchy and the simplification of the legal acts of the Union and the explicit recognition of the primacy of the Constitution and of the Union law over the law of the Member States; Or. en AM\506078EN.doc 5/14 PE 323.600/1-32 EN Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 13 (Compromise amendment replacing paragraph 7 and Amendments 90 (Andrew Nicholas Duff) and part of 93 (Carlos Carnero González)) Paragraph 7 7. Recognises the steps made towards greater transparency and a clearer categorisation as far as the competencies of the Member States and of the Union are concerned, with the retention of a certain level of flexibility (deletion) to allow for future adaptations (deletion) in an evolving Union with twenty-five or more Member States; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 14 (Compromise amendment replacing paragraph 8 and Amendments 96 (Pervenche Berès), 98 (Jo Leinen, Margrietus J. van den Berg, Jean-Maurice Dehousse) and 100 (Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann)) Paragraph 8 8. Welcomes (deletion) the new "legislative procedure", which will become the general rule, as an essential progress towards an increased democratic legitimacy of the Union's activities, acknowledges the noticeable extension of the codecision and underlines that the latter will have to be pursued further; Or. en Compromise amendment by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, Dimitris Tsatsos Amendment 15 (Compromise amendment replacing paragraph 9 and