EU charter receives the nod by Germany |
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Sat, 28 May 2005 13:15
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The EU constitution added another member to its list of backers as Germany sanctioned the treaty and became the ninth nation to approve of it, on Friday.
Joining Austria, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain in the ratification of the EU charter, Germany‘s upper house of Parliament, the Bundesrat voted for the EU treaty during Friday’s session, which was presided over by former French president, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, the architect of the EU charter. The lower house of parliament, Bundestag had already vouched for the pact on May 12.
Giscard appealed to the French Voters in Bundesrat to vote for the EU treaty in the referendum, saying that Germany was all prepared to endorse it. His presence in the Bundesrat ballot emphasised the support of the political leaders towards the EU charter.
| He said, “Germany is preparing to ratify the new European Constitution. That is an historic event. The day after tomorrow, I hope with all my heart, the French will in their turn ratify the constitution in a referendum.”
However, opinion polls drew quite a dismal picture of French voters backing the EU treaty over the weekend’s referendum. Giscard outlined the importance of French votes at the Bundesrat for the implementation of the constitution and said, “The double ratification in Germany and France would mark an historic passage for the future and constitution of the whole of Europe.”
Approval of at least 25 countries was essential for the charter to be executed.
While treaty promoters believe that the EU constitution will resolve problems in decision-making and render it easier, the charter’s opponents fear that it will create an "ultra liberal" economic structure that will favour selfish interests of the market and neglect social matters. They also think that the treaty’s design protects detrimental policies, which have failed to help huge redundancies in less developed economies, like China.
Therefore, the demand for a “renegotiated treaty” is on that will take better care of social interests and the labour force in countries.
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