(a) RESOLUTION A3-0189/92

Resolution on the structure and strategy for the European Union with regard to its enlargement and the creation of a Europe-wide order

The European Parliament,

- having regard to its resolutions on the political changes in Europe since 1989 and recent Europe-wide developments and on the constitution of the European Union,

- having regard to the motions for resolutions by Mr Martin and others (B3-0499/90) and Mr Roumeliotis (B3-1937/90),

- having regard to the report by its Committee on Institutional Affairs and the opinions of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Security and the Committee on External Economic Relations (A3-0189/92),

A. whereas the European Union has an increasing role; whereas increasing demands are being made on it with regard to ensuring long-term domestic and external peace among all the peoples of Europe, promoting democracy and the rule of law in all parts of Europe, bringing about socially just and regionally balanced advances in economic prosperity, securing improved protection for the natural environment, and preserving and fostering the cultural heritage throughout the whole of Europe,

B. whereas the progress of the Central and Eastern European States towards political democracy and a market economy, the continuing policies of reform in the republics on the territory of the former USSR, and the end of military and ideological confrontation in Europe have created a new situation, not least for the European Union and its relations with other European states,

C. whereas, despite the removal of the Communist dictatorships and the collapse of Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe, the peaceful coexistence of these peoples and progress towards the freedom of the individual, constitutional democracy and economic well-being are not secure on a long-term basis,

D. whereas the integration of European states within the framework of the European Union has proved itself to be a uniquely successful way of overcoming nationalism, bringing about peaceful settlements to disputes, and promoting economic development; whereas it must therefore not be abandoned under any circumstances, but rather consolidated and extended,

E. whereas for all European nations, economic, technological, ecological and social development poses problems and threats with which the sovereign national state alone is becoming less and less able to cope and which, as well as progressive integration in the European Union, also require increasingly intensive Europe-wide cooperation,

F. whereas the quality of being European is not clearly definable in geographical or historical, ethnic or religious, or cultural or political terms; whereas, however, it presupposes the political will to share a common future,

G. whereas the challenges posed, above all in securing peace, protecting the environment, promoting world-wide economic and social development and ensuring respect for human rights, also imply a need for close cooperation with non-European states, in particular the United States and Canada, Russia and other republics on the territory of the former Soviet Union and with Turkey and the countries on the eastern and southern shores of the Mediterranean,

H. whereas the nations of Europe are also affected by the consequences of social injustice, economic imbalance, growing ecological destruction and population growth in other parts of the planet; whereas they are therefore compelled to increase their joint efforts in a worldwide campaign against hunger, poverty, ecological destruction and militarization,

I. whereas various proposals have been put forward for developing the structure of Europe, in particular the 'Charter for a New Europe' signed in the framework of the CSCE in Paris,

J. whereas Turkey, Austria, Cyprus, Malta, Sweden, Finland and Switzerland have applied to become members of the European Union; whereas 'Europe agreements' have been concluded with Czechoslovakia, Poland and Hungary which embody these countries' desire for membership; whereas other European states are also making appropriate moves; whereas the countries bordering on the southern and eastern Mediterranean have expressed the wish to strengthen their links with the Union,

K. whereas full membership of the Union implies, above all, a commitment to the federal nature of that Union and that countries should be willing and able to accept all its rules and all its principles, if necessary after a suitable transitional period,

L. whereas the enlargement of the European Union to include further states will considerably disrupt the operation of its institutions, unless these are reorganized at the same time,

I. Essential features of a Europe-wide order

1. States its conviction that the new situation in Europe confronts the European Union with demands which it must meet on the home front by more courageous reform in the direction of a union with a federal goal, founded on respect for the principle of subsidiarity, and on the external front with a new approach to the issue of ever-closer collaboration between all the nations of Europe;

2. Regards enlargement of the European Union to include those European states which have fully developed democratic institutions under the rule of law as well as guarantees for human rights and the structures of a market economy, are willing and able to take over Community patrimony, including economic and monetary union including the agreement on social policy reached in the Maastricht Treaty and unconditionally recognize the goal of political union, as desirable in the interest not only of those applying for membership, but also of the European Union;

3. Does not believe that it is possible or necessary all the nations of Europe or those which feel themselves to be European or are allied with Europe to be gathered together at some future point into a union; points out further that decisions on enlargements of the Union also depend on future political, geopolitical and economic developments in Europe and on the internal development of the European Union;

4. Considers it desirable that, in the first instance, negotiations should commence with the EFTA countries which have applied for accession and that the negotiations should run in parallel, with the aim of completing any accession by the same date;

5. Believes that the European Economic Area, which should not compromise the role of the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament, will both facilitate subsequent membership for those EFTA states desiring it, as well as affording an opportunity for fostering close economic and political ties between the European Union and the economically advanced European states that do not wish to join the Union;

6. Observes that the opportunities afforded under Article 238 of the EEC Treaty for closer ties with the Community and for support for the reform process in Eastern Europe have not been exploited to the full in the association agreements (Europe agreements) concluded to date and suggests in particular that:

- association should be provided for with the Union, so that associated states may become involved as appropriate in the common foreign and security policy as well as in cooperation in domestic policy and justice matters without, however, preventing the development towards full, genuine Community powers in those areas;

- forms of association should be able to be created affording gradual, but increasingly close involvement in the Community, with a view to future membership;

- multilateral forms of regional cooperation and regional political dialogue between the Union and several associated states can be developed in order to foster regional cohesion and neighbourly relations and combat the rise in nationalism;

7. Hopes, leaving aside the likely enlargements and associations with new partners, that the European Union will, at all events, continue its policy of opening up specific Community support programmes such as SPES, SPRINT, ERASMUS or PETRA and agencies such as the European Environment Agency to include all European states, acting individually or in subregional groups, on the understanding that these states should pay an appropriate share of the costs;

8. Calls on the Union, alongside the strengthening and democratization of its own federal-type institutional system, to establish a system of confederative cooperation in Europe, which could provide a Europe-wide framework for resolving specific problems affecting Europe as a whole such as, for example, safeguarding security, dealing with emigration and immigration, security of energy supply, dealing with certain tasks in environmental protection, health protection, the fight against crime or respect for human rights and the rights of minorities;

9. Considers that the Council of Europe and the CSCE should become part of this 'system of confederative cooperation in Europe' and should thus continue and step up their important role as fora for Europe-wide agreements in those areas for which they have particular responsibility and that the European Union must be its centre and its driving force;

10. Considers it necessary that the European Union as such, in addition to its Member States, should become a member of the Council of Europe and a participant in the CSCE, with the Union gradually becoming the spokesman for the Member States on those matters for which powers are transferred to it;

11. Believes that the system of confederative cooperation in Europe should not be organized as a classic, unified and all-embracing confederation, but rather that it should stem from a number of functionally or regionally oriented confederations, it being expected that the European Union will provide impetus for the creation of such confederations;

12. Considers it important that the cooperation in the functionally oriented confederations should be organized flexibly and that there should be cooperation in them between the European Union and third countries which are concerned to find joint solutions to common problems in specific areas and are willing where necessary to exercise jointly certain prerogatives of national sovereignty;

13. Stresses that the cooperation in the functionally oriented confederations should not weaken or affect the process of integration in the European Union, which is linked with the transfer of national responsibilities;

14. Believes that the US and Canada, Russia and other states on the territory of the former USSR, Turkey and the non-European Mediterranean area can be associated, each in its own way, with the "system of confederative cooperation" in certain areas of responsibility;

15. Believes that as a rule inter-governmental cooperation between the European Union and the other States is currently the realistic and appropriate means of taking decisions in the "system of confederative cooperation in Europe", on condition however that the participation of each state involved and above all of the European Union is subject to parliamentary accountability, that agreed law cannot become operative in the European Union and in the other states until it has been approved by the European Parliament and/or the national parliaments;

16. Calls for the establishment of a 'European Academy' consisting of a certain number of outstanding experienced and independent European personalities drawn from the worlds of culture, art, science, religion and politics, not subject to national quotas; they would act as representatives of Europe's cultural identity in all its diversity;

II. Structural and institutional reforms

The Union

17. Considers the Treaty on European Union adopted on 7 February 1992 in Maastricht to be necessary but not sufficient to place the Union on the proper political and institutional footing required for it to respond appropriately to the new challenges and in particular to welcome a number of new Member States;

18. Is convinced that the European Union will not prove equal to the accession of new States and the Europe-wide challenges unless it grows into a Union founded on federal structures with limited but real powers, applied on the basis of the subsidiarity principle, and fully developed democratic institutions, based on a draft constitution drawn up by the European Parliament for ratification by the national parliaments;

19. Calls therefore for an intergovernmental conference to be convened before 1996 and before any decisions are taken on enlargement, and to be given a brief to start this process with the involvement of the European Parliament, on the basis of the draft Constitution of the Union in such a way as to ensure that the Union can absorb other European states whilst strengthening its cohesion, its ability to take decisions and its democratic legitimacy;

20. Disagrees with the view expressed in the conclusions of the Lisbon European Council of 27 June 1992 that enlargement of the Union to include those EFTA States wishing to accede should be completed without further institutional reforms;

21. Insists that at least the most urgent institutional and structural reforms should be agreed as part of the next accession negotiations;

22. Adopts the following guidelines for these reforms:

23. With regard to the Council:

- the role and nature of the presidency must be redefined, taking into account the principle of equality between the Member States but also the greater demands in the future for continuity and presence of the Union's external representation;

- its development into a second legislative chamber in the sense of a genuine chamber of states and alongside the European Parliament must be accelerated, with it becoming a standing body of the Union, its meetings on legislative matters being held in public and taking majority decisions in co-decision and on an equal footing with the European Parliament, the qualified majority being redefined using new criteria whilst maintaining weighted voting in respect of the enlargement of the Union;

- it must have a special role conferred on it in laying down implementing provisions on the basis of the laws adopted by the Council and Parliament in the framework of a clear legislative hierarchy, as the responsibility of the Member States for the implementation and application of Union laws must be maintained;

24. With regard to the Commission:

- it must hold executive power in the European Union and as such must manage the Union's affairs on the basis of the European Union's laws and in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the European Council;

- its political capacity to act and parliamentary accountability must be strengthened, in particular with regard to responsibilities in external relations and in the "system of confederative cooperation" in Europe;

- it must represent the European Union at the external level in particular with regard to Europe-wide structures and in the areas of responsibility transferred to it and, in other areas, in agreement with the Council and monitored by the European Parliament, which should have monitoring powers equivalent to those normally applying in foreign policy in the Member States;

- the principle of political portfolios must be introduced;

- the Commission President, elected by Parliament on a proposal from the European Council, must, in agreement with the Council and the Parliament and bearing in mind the need for balanced representation of all the Member States in the highest offices of the Union, decide on the composition of the Commission;

- the use of deputy Commissioners for certain portfolios should be authorized;

25. With regard to the European Parliament:

- it must become more representative with an increasing number of Member States in the European Union in that the number of Members shall be laid down in accordance with the principle of 'degressive proportionality', i.e. the higher the population of a given Member State the lower the ratio of Members to the population as a whole;

- it must collaborate with the Council on the basis of equal rights and powers, in all spheres in which the European Union has legislative competence and with respect to all decisions concerning revenue and expenditure;

- it must have considerably enhanced control over foreign and security policy in particular with regard to the role of the European Union and its decisions in the "system of confederative cooperation in Europe" and the further development of the European Union in that it shall be given the right of assent with respect to all fundamental common foreign and security policy decisions, the conclusion of international treaties and all decisions adopted unanimously by the Council in the framework of the European Union; 26. With regard to the use of languages in an enlarged European Union, takes the basic position that:

- respect for cultural diversity and legal security require that the national languages in the European Union are official languages of the European Union,

- every citizen and every Member of Parliament has the right to be heard in his national language in the institutions of the Union and to be informed in this language concerning Union policies and legislation,

and considers that the increase in the number of official languages as a result of the enlargement of the Community to include new Member States will make it essential to reach an agreement on the technical use of working languages;

Council of Europe

27. Suggests that it should be made possible for the Council of Europe to extend still further its role in the field of cultural, scientific, health, urban, private legal, social and social ethical cooperation between all the states of Europe and organizations of states and proposes that it should also play a greater role as a forum for dialogue between municipalities and the regions and between governmental and non-governmental organizations in Europe;

28. Advocates:

- the further development of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the Social Charter, with a view to developing a charter of minority rights in Europe which would guarantee both individual and collective rights,

- the completion of the system of legal protection under the European Human Rights Convention, in particular in view of complaints about the infringement of minority rights in European countries;

- the drafting of further European conventions in fields of common interest, particularly with regard to legal, social, ethnic and ethical questions;

Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE)

29. Believes that the recently enlarged CSCE must further strengthen and institutionalize its security policy activities in accordance with and on the basis of the 'Helsinki Document 1992' adopted by the Heads of State and of Government of the CSCE participating States on 10 July 1992;

30. Believes that, following the most recent enlargement of the CSCE, further development of the CSCE Charter is particularly necessary in order to harmonize the principle of non-interference and respect for territorial integrity with the principle of respect for the right of autonomy and the protection of minorities and welcomes the appointment of a High Commissioner of the CSCE with responsibility for national minorities, despite his limited independence and freedom to take the initiative;

31. Views the participation of the US and Canada within the CSCE not only as an expression of the abiding involvement of these two states with the future of Europe but also as a possibility for closer cooperation over and above the security sphere;

32. Wishes, for as long as the European Community - or ultimately the European Union - is not a full participant in the CSCE, to be represented in the CSCE parliamentary assembly by means of a delegation enjoying a specifically-defined status;

WEU and NATO

33. Believes that the WEU, as an instrument of common defence policy, must be linked more closely to the institutions of the European Union in a transitional period and should be absorbed into the Union in 1996;

34. Welcomes the WEU decisions of 19 June 1992 to institutionalize and structure dialogue, consultation and cooperation with the States of Central and Eastern Europe;

35. Takes the view that NATO, pending development of the role of the CSCE and pending NATO's organizational reform and political and strategic realignment on the basis of the Copenhagen and Rome Declarations, can continue to act as a security guarantee for the whole of Europe and a close bond between Europe on the one hand and the US and Canada on the other;

36. Considers that the creation of the North Atlantic Cooperation Council provides a suitable starting point for increased security policy links between NATO and the member states of the former Warsaw Pact;

37. Considers it desirable for NATO to play a leading role in a comprehensive non-aggression and mutual assistance pact binding all its member states with all other European states including Russia and possibly other states on the territory of the former Soviet Union and the European Union;

Mandates to the bodies of the European Union

38. Confirms the mandate to its appropriate committee rapidly to complete the drafting of the constitution for the European Union;

39. Calls on the Commission, the Council and the Member States to develop the European Union into the driving force and focal point of the "system of confederative cooperation in Europe" and thus the fixed starting point for a Europe-wide order to maintain peace across the continent, foster the development of democracy, strengthen economic and social cohesion, protect the natural foundations of human life, preserve the regions and cultures of Europe in their diversity and also meet its responsibilities for the fight against famine, poverty, environmental degradation and rearmament in other parts of the world as well;

40. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments of Member States, the US and Canada, the Council of Europe, the CSCE, the WEU and NATO.