2007 (PDF, 2.81 MB) - Belgium

to increase the cohesion between member states
sharing the same view.
On 20 April 2007, a diplomatic conference was held
with the heads of missions in the member states to
exchange information on changes in positions and
raise the awareness of our diplomatic network with
a view to ensuring that Belgium was as well prepared
as possible for the European Council meeting in June.
The participation of a representative of the German
Presidency in this conference made it possible to gain
a clearer picture of the German government’s goals.
The coordination process – led by the Directorate-
General for European Affairs and Coordination and
involving the Regions and the Communities – made
use of all the additional information to work out a
more precise strategy.
The coordination process would subsequently
be continued, culminating in the adoption of the
Treaty at the Lisbon Summit in October 2007.
European Council meeting of June 2007:
approval of the mandate
The European Council meeting of June 2007 approved
the mandate for the intergovernmental conference,
thus abandoning the idea of a single consolidated
treaty.
Moreover, certain symbolic elements and terminology
such as “Constitution”, “Union Minister of Foreign
Affairs”, “European laws” and “symbols of the Union”
were dropped.
The chosen method involved amending the existing
treaties. However, most of the innovations introduced
by the Constitutional Treaty were retained.
The intention was that the Treaty on European Union
should integrate the acquis of the Constitutional
Treaty concerning the values of the Union, the democratic
fundamentals, the institutional framework,
closer cooperation and the common foreign and security
policy.
The Treaty establishing the European Community,
which from now on will be called the “Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union”, would embrace
all the innovations that were originally part of the
Constitutional Treaty, except those for which an exception
had explicitly been made.
At the European Council meeting of June 2007,
Belgium showed its determination to safeguard as
much as possible of the acquis of the Constitutional
Treaty and to retain the institutional balance the
treaty had created.
The mandate of the intergovernmental conference ultimately
preserved most of the fundamental amendments
as laid down in the Constitutional Treaty:
>>single legal personality;
>>integration of the pillars;
>>binding character of the Charter of Fundamental
Rights for the institutions and the member states
in the application of Community law;
>>accession to the European Convention on Human
Rights;
>>preservation of the double mandate of the High
Representative for Foreign and Security Policy;
>>gradual reduction of the number of Commission
Members;
>>extension of the scope of qualified majority voting
and codecision;
>>public nature of the legislative debates of the
Council;
>>reinforcement of the European Parliament in budgetary
matters and concerning the conclusion of
treaties;
>>extension of the powers of the European Court of
Justice;
>>right of popular initiative;
>>clarification of the competences of the Union;
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