Paris, 29 November – The WEU Assembly called for national parliaments to step up efforts to inform the public about the main points of the European Constitutional Treaty and keep domestic policy issues out of the debates on ratification.
 
A report, adopted unanimously by the Assembly on Monday, argues that the Assembly’s work should continue, so that national parliaments have a European forum where they can discuss intergovernmental European Security and Defence (ESDP) activities. It also advocates that parliaments scrutinise the way in which the European authorities enforce subsidiarity and proportionality.
 
The report, submitted by Lord Russell-Johnston (UK/Lib) and co-Rapporteur Andrzej Gawlowski for the Parliamentary and Public Relations Committee, noted that public opinion on the Treaty had been influenced by too much media coverage of domestic issues. “Citizens are ill-informed about the exact content of decisive parts” of the text.
 
The report, entitled “The European Constitution: parliamentary follow-up and public opinion”, noted that it was difficult to talk about parliamentary follow-up as the draft treaty had been adopted only on 18 June of this year and there had “been virtually no parliamentary debate for a number of reasons.” These included the fact that the draft was a compromise and that it would be difficult after such drawn-out negotiations to overhaul specific principles or points. The summer recess had also intervened and Europe’s attention had been focused in recent months on the European Parliament elections and European Union (EU) enlargement. Parliamentarians, the report concluded “have probably had to resign themselves to accepting the compromise text as it stands.”
 
The idea of the electorate being as fully informed as possible about the Treaty might, Lord Russell-Johnston said, be “a pious hope, (…) but we must always try”. He acknowledged that some parts of the Assembly’s resolution might sound like platitudes, but that platitudes were “one of the characteristics of truth.”
 
The report also describes the procedures whereby the 25 EU member countries are to ratify the Treaty – by referendum and/or parliamentary vote.