Visegrad Four demand changes in EU draft constitution
On October 4, an inter-governmental conference which brings together representatives from all fifteen current European Union countries and the ten accession countries was opened in Rome to finalise the EU's draft constitution. One week later, last Friday, parliamentary representatives of four of the countries due to join the EU in May next year, met in Prague to discuss their reservations on the proposed constitution treaty.
The words of the chairwoman of the Polish delegation, Senator Genowefa Grabowska.
The Visegrad Four -the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary - issued a joint statement which suggests the following changes to the draft EU constitution.
First, "the proposed system of rotating Presidency of the Council of Ministers should be further specified while maintaining the principle of equality and respecting the geographic diversity of the Union". The second demand is the "one country, one commissioner" principle, or more precisely, that each member state should have the right to be represented in the European Commission by a full-fledged commissioner with a voting right. Thirdly, the Visegrad Four have agreed that the calculation of qualified majority proposed in the draft Constitutional Treaty to come into force after 2009 should be reconsidered and changed. They also share the opinion that no special mechanisms ensuring close cooperation in the field of common security and defence policy needed to be established, as the European Union can rely on what the Visegrad Four have called "the Atlantic relation".
The participants also agreed that the cooperation of the Visegrad Group should continue after EU accession. Jan Figel of the Slovak National Council.
"Although without an institutional basis, this cooperation is bearing fruit. I'm glad that after twelve years, the Visegrad cooperation is not ending, nor is it being questioned. On the contrary, it is entering a new stage."
