Merkel heads EU, vows constitution for Europe

NICOSIA, Cyprus — Angela Merkel took over the European Union Jan. 1 with a mountain of contentious issues, unsolved problems and the bloc’s expansion to 27 members.

She has pledged to give Europe a constitution, or at least its draft. Her critics as well as her supporters are skeptical. Germany’s first woman chancellor is facing the bloc’s six-month rotating presidency at a time of increasing doubt in Europe’s cohesion and of its ability to act together on crucial issues.

“People are losing faith in the European project and nationalism is re-emerging,” said the conservative Greek daily Kathimerini. “The acute disagreements between states cannot be disguised by diplomatic niceties.”

Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski, reflecting the mood of other former communist EU members, said: “What interests the Poles is the future of Poland and not that of the EU.”

Mrs. Merkel’s task is compounded by Germany’s role as current president of the Group of Eight richest industrial nations, which includes Russia.

Perhaps hastily, Mrs. Merkel has assigned the German presidency the task of drafting a new European constitution — or at least preparing the outline of a document acceptable to all member states, including Bulgaria and Romania, which joined at the start of this year.

The previous constitutional treaty accepted by 18 members was rejected in referendums in 2005 by France and the Netherlands. Since then, the number of “Euro-skeptics” has grown, and today it includes Britain, Poland and the Czech Republic. Several other members are uncertain.

“We cannot perform miracles in six months,” said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, casting doubt on Mrs. Merkel’s ability to prepare a satisfactory draft, which some European pundits have already described as “mission impossible.”

Yet most European officials see the planned constitution as an essential framework for decision-making. Such a document has to be accepted by all member countries. One veto can destroy it or send it back to the drawing board.

‘Safety net’ sought

Of crucial importance is Europe’s desire that the draft not include any contentious laws of the previous, discarded document. Given the complexity of the problem, Nicolas Sarkozy, a candidate in the French presidential elections, has suggested a diluted “mini-treaty,” to satisfy everybody.

Katinka Barysch, of London’s Center for European Reform, said such a solution “would look like a defeat for Germany, but as long as it is not called a ‘mini constitution’ it could work.”

Opinion polls across Europe, from the Atlantic coast to the ex-Communist Baltic States, reflect a desire for a constitutional document that would not undermine national identities and aspirations.

“People also want a treaty that works as a political, economic and cultural safety net,” said a member of the European Parliament. “Germany must go beyond presenting just an improved version of the rejected document.”

The German ambition to provide the EU a definitive and binding legal document is hampered by approaching changes in two major member countries — Britain and France — precisely during the six months Mrs. Merkel has given her government to prepare the draft constitution.

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