Speech on the European Constitution Convergéncia Democrática de Catalunya Barcelona 17th February 2005

Speech delivered on Thu 17th Feb 2005

Estimats amics,

You will be the first Europeans to hold a popular vote on the new EU Constitution. But you are not really voting about a document of 264 pages. You are voting about an idea.

The document is complicated. Few voters will read it. But the idea is simple. Can we build a union of the peoples of Europe, including the new democracies who laboured for fifty years under communism, which is able to defend and promote European values at home and abroad. The EU has grown: from 6 countries in the 1960s to 9 in the 1970s, 12 in the 1980s, 15 in the 1990s and now 25 last year. The Union has also developed: from a coal and steel community to a common market and now, increasingly, into a community of common values.

For 40 years, our values were the same as those of our friends in the United States of America. Because we had the same starting point: 1945. But Europe's starting point is now the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in 1989. For America, it is 9-11, in 2001.

We have far more in common with America than that which divides us. But we will no longer always see eye-to-eye. We disagree with their policies of regime in countries like Iraq or Iran. We have our own policy of regime change: we are changing the regime in Turkey, for example. And in Croatia. But we are doing it the European way. We use the force of argument, not the argument of force.

If we want the European way to work, we need a European Union which works. And that is what this Constitution is all about.

Walter Bagehot, a 19th century English Liberal economist, once wrote a book called 'The British Constitution'. Actually, my country has never had a Constitution. I can tell you, as a Liberal, we need one. Just as the European Union needs a Constitution which sets out the separation of powers between government at EU level and government at national level: which gives European citizens a Bill of Rights: which gives any country a legal means to leave the Union if they decide to. All these are in the new European Constitution.

You, of all Europeans, have had a proper debate about this Constitution and I salute the leading role which Convergencia - (and in particular my friends Carles Gasoliba and Ignasi Guardans) - have played in this debate.

Catalonia has been a model of openness, in keeping with your strong international engagement. You set up a Convention in 2002, to debate Catalonia's future in Europe. Your Convention celebrated a political process which enshrines the values of the European Union in a legal document in order for the Union to act more effectively at home as well as abroad. The Catalan Convention also highlighted two important issues for you; first, the role of the regions with legislative powers and the better monitoring of subsidiarity; and second the questions of language and linguistic diversity. I come from Scotland, so those issues are important for me too. They help us bring Europe closer to its citizens.

Cultural diversity is Europe's strength and its unity. That's why Article 5 of the Constitution respects the integrity, identities and constitutions of the Member States. Article 2 requires particular respect for minorities within national boundaries. This is not, as the Partido Popular claims, to say that the Constitution forbids any reorganisation within a Member State. On the contrary, it says it is up to each Member State to work out its own internal constitutional arrangements.

Great Britain has recently given more power to its nations and regions. There is nothing to stop Spain doing the same. And no reason not to support so-called 'non-official' EU languages. Catalan is spoken by 7 million people. Why should it not be used when Maltese spoken by 400,000 is? The Constitution specifies that Member States may translate EU texts into languages which have official status within their country. This may be a small step, but it's an important step in the right direction. The EU is not perfectly balanced, but it is a club where solidarity and mutual respect must prevail.

The debate about language demonstrates the dilemma of the Constitution for many of Europe's citizens. The Constitution is a compromise. Everyone will feel dissatisfied with parts of it. But let us not undermine the Constitution simply because it does not meet all our aspirations, or go far enough in one direction. And do not believe the university professors who tell you that Catalonia can have a free "No" because Spain's majority will vote "Yes". As you say in Barcelona "if you undermine the foundations the house starts to fall down". For the British conservatives the text contains too much of a continental social agenda; French socialists find it too neo-liberal. But it would bring a Europe which works better.

The Constitution modernises the EU; it makes it more effective, more democratic, more transparent and more capable of influence on a world stage.

• MORE EFFECTIVE by simplifying decision-making and slimming down the College of commissioners;

• MORE DEMOCRATIC by giving the European Parliament more power of codecision, including full scrutiny of the budget, enabling national parliaments to signal their disapproval of draft laws, offering the possibility of a citizen's initiative and including a charter to protect citizens from laws which infringe their rights;

• MORE TRANSPARENT by simplifying decision-making and clarifying which powers can be exercised in Brussels and which are the responsibility of national governments;

• MORE CAPABLE TO ACT ABROAD through an external action service, a European foreign minister and a mutual assistance agreement.

It means recognising that in a globalised world the ability of European Member States to protect themselves against terrorism or manage environmental change or to cope with immigration is directly proportionate to their ability to work together.

Faced with continental trading partners like Russia or the United States, Europe needs a continental policy of its own.

A little over 30 years ago, Convergència Democràtica de Catalunya was founded as a democratic, humanist and progressive Catalan nationalist political party. You have remained true to your ideals. Those ideals of progressive humanism also underpin the philosophy of European Liberal Democrats and our vision of the European Union which is encapsulated in the new Constitution.

Co-operation between Europe's Liberals and Democrats also dates back almost 30 years - to the Stuttgart Declaration in 1976. Last year a proper statute for European political parties was agreed for the first time. The clear legal status for European political parties will be instrumental in strengthening the democratic basis of the Union as votes for parties translate into European political programmes. This is already becoming clear in the new enlarged European Parliament. We have the confidence to reject prospective European Commissioners who do not make the grade. We are holding President Barroso to account on his 5-year plan and on the Lisbon Agenda. We are your voice in action when we vote in Strasbourg or Brussels. We remain accountable to you - and not least in the defence we now are called to make of the European Constitution. As one of your illustrious poets, Salvador Espriu wrote in his poem "They asked me to talk about my Europe",

"Quan arribi el dia, haurem fet el primé

i inesborrabla pas vers la suprema

unió i igualtat entre tots els homs." *

Moltas grasias per haver-me convidat y espero un gran reculjament per la Constitució europea.

[*When the day arrives we will have made the first and inexorable step towards a supreme union and equality between all men.]