It is with great interest that the European
Network Against Racism, ENAR[1],
has followed the works of the Convention on the future of Europe from its very
beginning. ENAR does however fear that the current atmosphere of political and
economic insecurity in Europe is highjacking to a great extent the debate on
the future of Europe and narrowing it down to a short-term perspective. We
therefore urge the Convention to take the following concerns in consideration
and to promote a Europe of “inclusion” and of respect for the
fundamental values of equality, fundamental rights and respect for diversity.
Looking at the current proposals under
discussion, looking at the final reports of the different working groups of the
Convention and following in particular the debate going on in the Working Group
for a Social Europe, we are more and more convinced that a certain number of
issues are falling in between the mandates of the working groups and will
therefore enjoy less debate although they have been and will continue to be
crucial for a democratic construction of Europe.
We believe that:
· Equality should remain one of the main threads throughout the entire Constitution, since it is a fundamental right but also a value, an objective, a competence and a policy of Europe.
- Racism and xenophobia, still today are a major obstacle for the full enjoyment of freedom,
dignity, security and justice.
- European citizenship, as a principle, should be based not only on nationality of the
Member States but also on legal residence in order to guarantee that
Europe will evolve in an inclusive and not an exclusive way in the future.
Legal residents can already file a Petition to the Parliament, make a
complaint to the Ombudsman, enjoy certain voting rights in a number of European
Countries and there is an initiative at the European level to grant a
“long-term resident” status to persons staying legally in a
Member State’s territory for a minimum stay of 5 years. This
indicates a clear evolution in time towards a legal status as close as
possible to the one enjoyed by European Citizens, as was agreed in Tampere.
We therefore
urge the Convention: è to refer to equality as a value and incorporate equal treatment of people and elimination of inequalities amongst the objectives of the Union. Article
13 TEC
should furthermore remain a strong
competence
of the Union and this should be reflected by the strategic place that is given to it in
the structure of the Union’s competences, namely in or as closed as
possible to the 15 first articles of the Constitution. è to maintain the reference to the prevention
and the combat of
racism and xenophobia as
one of the core paths to achieve an area of freedom, security and justice,
as is currently stated in the current Article 29 TEU. è to rethink the principle of Citizenship in order for it to reflect and stimulate
the current evolution and, with concern for the long-term perspective, to
open the door towards an “inclusive” Europe by rewriting the current article
17 TEC in such a way to
make a citizen of the Union “ every person holding the nationality
of a member state or residing with a legal status within a Member
State”. Finally, we are clear that these points can
only lead to real and concrete results if they are supported by democratic, efficient and transparent
procedures and therefore
urge the Convention to change the procedures concerning the 3
abovementioned items into co-decision and respecting qualified majority voting.
ENAR
Brussels,
6th February 2003