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Merkel's Eurovision Entry
Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel has called for a new look for Europe.
"We must, and I am deeply convinced of this, critically review the state of the European project," she told members of the Bundestag (the lower house of parliament) in Berlin.
Even for a politician who lacks skill in words, in any European language, the message was clear: It's clean-up time (or don't worry, nothing bad will happen, except inertia).
Frau Merkel says reviving the constitution would be one of her main tasks.
The Guardian quotes Alan Prosener in Welt am Sonntag, commenting: "She realises there is not a snowball's chance in hell of saving the constitution...But German politicans voted unanimously for the constitution and she doesn't see it as Germany's role to abandon it. That has to come from France."
Everyone and his dog has offered advice on how best to deal with the currently moribund EU constitution. Should it be shelved - as EU law is supposed to require, following its rejection by the people of France and the Netherlands? Britain would like to see it quietly forgotten, not least because any plot to revive it would pressurise the prime minister (whoever it may be by then) to go ahead with Tony Blair's vow to hold a referendum on the treaty. Or, as France's president Chirac is said to favour, should elements of it be sneaked into law anyway, and a gutted "social charter" version be adopted by national parliaments? Few Frenchmen would argue against a bill of rights guaranteeing European "social values", even if they would resent another vote on a document they roundly rejected. Or should the French and Dutch be requested to reconsider their decision in a year or so, by which time many other governments will have approved the constitution (Estonia's parliament voted in favour of the constitution last week)?
Or could Merkel - who would definitely favour reintroducing the whole constitution, as Germany was poised to do rather well from it if it were ever adopted - come up with better new idea?
Speculation will culminate in a summit in mid-June, which will mark the end of "a period of reflection" begun last year after French and Dutch voters rudely interrupted the show. Germany takes over the EU presidency in 2007 - a year which will also see a new French president and probably a new British PM. Both big players will have more on their minds that a document many believe should be buried, preferably in a lead casket and sealed in concrete. But it seems Angela Merkel wants to make her office a visionary one.
In the words of Jacques Delors, former head of the European Commission: "The union must dream".
Now, is it a dream or a nightmare ?
