You will find hereunder an up-date of the ratification procedures of the Maastricht Treaty in the twelve Member States of the EC until 18 June 1992. We would like to thank DGs II and IV of the EP for their informations which made the publication of our dossier possible.

The Danish "no" to the Maastricht Treaty has opened a period of uncertainty, not only in terms of Denmark's relations with the other EC Member States, but also for the consequences that the Danish vote could have in certain Community countries and for the recomposition of political geography derived from the debate on Maastricht at national and European level. The split among the opposition political parties in France, the "yes" in Ireland putting together the main parties in power and at opposition, the divorce between the Progress Socialist Party and the other parties of the Left, the creation of an anti-Maastricht movement in the Tory Party in UK, the demands of referendum in several Member States: here the first consequences of the Danish vote, destinated to become greater in the months to come.

The Foreign Ministers of the Twelve, meeting in Oslo as part of a Nato meeting on 4 June 1992 decided to continue the ratification procedures while firmly ruling out the possibility of any renegotiation of the Treaty. The formal position is however in contrast with Article R of the Treaty which states that the Treaty will enter into force if all Member States have deposited their ratification. The British government , on its side, is going to presents its partners a new protocol draft project, whose principal aim is to answer the Danish fears ( and evidently British ones too) of a very supra-national Europe, through a significant reduction of Commission powers.

On 10 June, the European Parliament reacted to the results of the Danish vote with a debate during its plenary and the adoption of a resolution. You will find a comment on that at page 10 of our Newsletter and the text of the resolution hereunder.

Agenda of the ratifications

The situation varies greatly from one country to another: only one country would be able to ratify before the summer (Luxemburg), where all the other countries take the view that ratification is possible after summer but before December, although the Netherlands do not rule out further delays.

Constitutional Consequences of the Treaty

In at least three Member States, constitutional changes should be made prior to ratification : it is the case of France, where the constitutional debate took place in first reading at the National Assembly and Senateand the Congress of Versailles finally adopted the constitutional changes on 23 June; of Germany, where Articles 24,28 and 88 of the Fundamental Law should be amended by both Bundestag and Bundesrat; and of Portugal, where some changes are needed concerning the right to stand in local elections, the powers of the Central Bank and the issuing of money.

In some countries, the constitutional amendments allowing the right to stand in local and European elections should be postponed after the ratification of Maastricht, even if this decision is not shared by the competent constitutional bodies: it is the case of Belgium, whose article 4 of the Constitution is to be amended; of Spain (article 13) an of Luxemburg (article 52).

In the other countries, the constitutional modifications seem to be excluded, even if in Italy the Andreotti government declared to be aware of the constitutional significance that ratification of this particular Treaty could have with regard to placing non-Italian Community citizens on an equal footing with Italian nationals as regards their voting rights and eligibility to stand in local elections.

Links between the ratification and other European issues

In certain Member States, a link has been established between the ratification and other European issues, such as accession to the Western European Union in Greece, the Schengen Agreement on the suppression of frontiers controls in Germany and the economic and social cohesion in Spain, Ireland and Portugal.

The role of national Parliaments

the debate on Maastricht served to increase the influence exerted by the national parliament concerned on the Community activities of its own government. In this connection, the French Parliament might be granted the right to adopt own-initiative resolutions on Community activities; the supervisory powers of the German Bundestag might be enhanced and the Bundesrat will have to be consulted on each transfer of national sovereignty to the the European Union. Both the British and the German Parliaments are to pronounce again on the transition to the third stage of the Economic and Monetary Union.

The role of national parliaments in the European construction represents today a sphere in full evolution, of which the meetings more and more frequent at inter-parliamentarian level prove the complexity. We shall come back to this subject in our next issue.

On the other hand, the national parliaments will be required at the same time to authorise the ratification of several international agreements, in particular the Schengen Agreement ( already ratified in France, Spain and Portugal), the Economic and European Area between EC and EFTA and the Association Agreements with Hungary, Poland and Czechoslovakia.

The after-Maastricht

Article N of the Treaty of Maastricht provides that an inter-governmental conference will be convene in 1996 to examine the subjects to be revised. We have already pointed out (Editorial, May 1992) the will stated by an increasing number of political forces to bring this date forward before the European election and any enlargement. The Danish vote - as regards as to the procedures of entering into force and the amendments to the Treaty - could contribute to reinforce this need.

The "Comité d'Avis" of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives stated that it is necessary "to instruct the European Parliament to draft a project of Constitution to be submitted to the ratification of the national parliaments before the end of the next European legislature and that a new Conference of the Community parliaments must be convened in 1993 in order to reassume the strategy established by the first Conference of Rome, in November 1990.

We shall come back to it.