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Austrian presidency will not press for EU
constitution
20.12.2005 - 09:56 CET | By Mark Beunderman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Austrian foreign minister
Ursula Plassnik has indicated that her country's
incoming six-month EU presidency will not push for
the adoption of the EU constitution, presenting
a modest working programme together with Austria's
successor Finland.
The down-to-earth presentation of Ms Plassnik together
with the Finnish state secretary for European affairs
Antti Peltomaki in Brussels on Monday (19 December)
marked the approaching end of the UK presidency,
which commentators had blamed for being full of
pretentious claims but short on action.
Austria will take over the helm of the bloc on 1
January 2006 for six months, followed by Finland
on 1 July, with both states presenting a joint working
programme.
Contrary to Germany, which has already made clear
it will try and revive the EU constitution during
its presidency in the first half of 2007, Ms Plassnik
said that Austria will not press for ratification
of the text.
"There are no quick fixes and no instant answers",
the Austrian minister said, pointing out that Europe
is currently engaged in a reflection period on the
constitution.
The reflection period was agreed by EU leaders after
French and Dutch voters rejected the constitution
in referendums in May and June this year and will
be evaluated at an EU summit in June 2006.
"Time is ripening now", Ms Plassnik indicated,
adding Vienna will be "very prudent not to
pick and choose" single aspects of the treaty
for accelerated ratification in the meantime.
Austria's ambassador to the EU Gregor Woschnagg
indicated Vienna will play the role of an "honest
broker" between those states that want to continue
ratification of the text, and those that have ditched
the document.
Caution on enlargement
Vienna takes the same, cautious approach on another
delicate issue - the planned debate on future enlargement
and possibly the future borders of the EU.
Some EU member states, notably France, expect Vienna
to initiate a broad, fundamental discussion on the
EU's readiness to absorb future members, announced
for 2006 in last week's EU leaders summit conclusions.
But Austrian officials did not show much ambition
to kickstart the enlargement debate.
The issue does not figure in the Austrian-Finnish
working programme, while diplomats said no meetings
or documents over the issue had been planned.
Vienna itself pushed hard in October to get the
term "absorption capacity" (the capacity
of the EU to welcome new members) in the negotiating
framework with EU candidate state Turkey, but at
the same time it is careful not to frustrate the
EU bids of the western Balkan states, which it firmly
supports.
Ms Plassnik called enlargement to the Balkan states
a "natural focus point" of the Austrian
presidency, announcing that the foreign ministers
of the EU hopefuls will be invited to an informal
EU foreign ministers' meeting in March.
Other priorities
Meanwhile, the Austrian foreign minister took a
humble stance when presenting other priorities of
the upcoming term at the helm of the EU.
"It is not up to every presidency to invent
the wheel", she stated, adding that Austria
as a small country would act as a "pragmatic
team player" that would "serve" Europe.
The Austrians will take over growth and jobs, as
well as sustainable development and climate change
from the UK presidency as key points, but have added
little of their own concrete priorities to the EU
agenda.
Austrian officials highlighted a high-level conference
called "the sounds of Europe" in January,
exploring European identity and the "European
life model" of high quality of life and social
cohesion.
The conference should contribute to laying a new
consensus on the debate on the future of Europe,
they said.
Meanwhile, Finnish Europe secretary Peltomaki was
more concrete in identifying Helsinki's priorities
for the second half of the year, stating that his
country will focus on justice and home affairs.
Mr Peltomaki said Europe needed a "Tampere
II", referring to the landmark summit on justice
and home affairs at Tampere during the previous
Finnish presidency in 1999.
Budget test
The first test for the Austrian presidency's diplomatic
skills will be negotations with the European Parliament
on the EU's future budget, agreed by EU leaders
on Saturday (17 December).
The European Parliament must sign off on the member
states' budget deal, which is €113 billion
less than MEPs demanded in June.
"We are aiming at having a solution somewhere
by March", said Austria's ambassador to the
EU Gregor Woschnagg, who described the upcoming
talks with the parliament as "difficult."
"If we dont have an agreement by then, the
implementation of the financial perspectives will
be in great danger", he added, explaining that
in the event, structural funds could not all be
paid out from January 2007 onwards.
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EUOBSERVER
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