February 28, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 26, 1423

BRUSSELS, Feb 27: Britain on Thursday rejected the “f-word” raised by the convention drafting an EU constitution — federalism — and demanded instead respect for a Union of nation states.

At the opening of its latest two-day session, the Convention on the Future of Europe was faced with more than 1,000 amendments tabled to the first 16 draft articles of the future charter.

Many objected to article one presented by the convention chairman, former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing, which speaks of the EU administering “certain common competences on a federal basis”.

The explicit reference to a “federal” Europe has raised the hackles of British eurosceptics suspicious that the convention is a Trojan horse for the kind of EU they bitterly oppose, with France and Germany notably calling for “ever-closer union”.

A British government representative to the 105-member body, Baroness Scotland, said the constitution’s opening articles “should tell the citizens about the genesis of the Union: that its power comes from the member states, and why they have decided to pool sovereignty”.

“For some, the word federal will do that. But it is a politically charged word, and I hope we might find a better formula,” she said.

“I suggest we simply explain what we mean, and that we coordinate certain policies at the European level to achieve goals that member states cannot achieve alone.”

French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin argued the constitution’s first article “needs to keep the emblematic reference to an ever-closer union between the peoples of Europe, because this is a guarantee for the furtherance of European integration”.

“But I would also like to introduce into this article the notion of a federation of nation states. This would show the synthesis of the European project,” he said. However, British Conservative delegate David Heathcoat-Amory said the notion of a “federation of nation states” was a non-starter.—AFP