Request for a Debate The Need for a Constitutional Convention

Czech Slavia

Honorable colleagues,

in view of the European Commission election I would like to start a discussion on the topic of The Need for a Constitutional Convention with the new Commission. I think it is time to admit the Union and its institutions have been barely working over the past months an issue which requires to be urgently addressed.

I suggest it would be wise to think about the overlapping role of the Council and the Commission, which might make Commission appear pointless. The short duration of the Commission mandates furthermore prevent the Commissioners from proposing needed legislation while it forces citizens in certain states into elections with only one candidate running. Likewise the limiting effect of term mandates should also be on the agenda.

The Member States on the other hand should be able to reject certain legislative proposals in the most sensitive topics such as the issue of taxation by a veto.

Indeed I think it is a high time to call for a Constitutional Convention and to adopt a unitary policy for the negotiations with the new Commissioners to lay certain tasks upon them to prepare for a large reform of the Union as a whole which would allow for easier movement of goods between the Member States and promote peace.

Sofie Čikarová
Councilor for Czech Slavia

BrumBrum

I as the deputy councillour for United Duchies agree with this idea. The term is too short to achieve anything of not often and its good we finally have a councillour other than the United Duchies one adressing this broken system and broken commission. I am for a convention and simplification and democratisation of the system which is direly and desperately needed and reforms to make the EU closer to the European people rather than the Europolis centred structure we have now.

Sky Hook, Deputy Councillour for United Duchies

UK and California

California completely agrees

Istkalen

Cllr. Čikarová, I'd like, first, to thank you for having raised this point of discussion.

I think we all can agree that the Union has ground to a halt. The Commission, the Council, and the Court of Justice have fallen silent; even the member-states, which once were so loud and aggressive, seem much quieter than usual. Reform, as all of us seem to believe, is quite clearly necessary in order to bring our Europe, once again, to life.

However, and I must stress this - now is not the time to push through with broad, idealistic plans for change. Our crisis is, above all, institutional; the focus of our work should therefore be the strengthening of our institutions, and not the introduction of new, untested elements that might further undermine them.

I believe, then, that we must first consider formally appointing an emergency government, sitting indefinitely and holding certain extraordinary powers, that will be tasked with restoring the health of this Union. Let us focus on giving our Europe all possible reinforcement - on restoring the confidence it has lost over the years - on taking any and all action possible to return it to full glory.

Iras Tilkanas
Councillor for the Republic of IStkalen

Spain

Councillor Čikarová, in first place I would like to thank you for bringing this topic up. The issues that you have pointed out are correct and cannot be denied, with the undergoing Commission and ECoJ elections as a perfect example. While there are enough candidates to fill up the Commission, there are not enough candidates for the Court of Justice, which results in a blockade that does not allow me to continue the electoral procedures as the Council Speaker, constitutionally in charge of them. Nevertheless, would that Constitutional convention be a success? With many nations now falling silent, including the ones that used to have the highest influence in the region, it is unclear to me if heading to a convention that would come up with a new constitution written by less than a half of the region is the most appropiate solution.

The Deputy Councillor of the United Duchies has made a statement I wanted to correct: the system is not broken. It worked in the past and it works now. The reason why the system is paralyzed is simple: there are not enough candidates, there are not enough nations. Once there are, the system will work again. If I had to choose a boat to ride, I would definitely go for Councillor Tilkannas'. The appointment of an emergency government is reasonable, and legal. It does not require many nations either, which is the current problem we are facing.

Donald Tusk
Council Speaker and Councillor for Spain

BrumBrum

I would ask the honourable Councillour for Spain what would need to go further wrong for him to consider the system broken. How can you not call a system that has led to 4 inactive commissions in a row, 2 years of EDA not spending all its budget due to not getting enough claims to
bureaucratic centralised systems and just general gridlock in the EU commission and government. Is he blind or deluded? Frankly to have these issues and still say the system works is either lying or delusion. We need this convention to fix the EU systems or nations will leave in the future and the EU will collapse and I'd assume both I and the right honourable councillor for Spain don't want that. Until they get it and actually work together for reform rather than obstructing those trying to improve the EU this Union will continue on this dark path to collapse.

Sky Hook , Deputy Councillor for United Duchies

Istkalen

Cllr. Hook, with all due respect, the elephant in the room, as the Speaker so simply put it, is that "there are not enough candidates, there are not enough nations."

It is this elephant - not the non-issue of the EDA, which has functioned effectively over the whole duration of its existence - that we must focus on. Let us do so, for the health of our Union.

Iras Tilkanas
Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen

Spain

Deputy Councillor Hook, I think that with my words and the ones said by former Speaker Tilkannas it should be enough to put an end to that theory, but I would like to correct you once again: the system has not made these Commissions inactive, the individuals chosen have. Saying the last four Commissions have been fully inactive is desproportionate, that would imply that Europe has not had an active Commissioner since July 2022, which is false. I can affirm that Jean-Claude Juncker and our Foreign Affairs Commissioners, even Internal Affairs Commissioner Wirt Harland have been active and working Commissioners.

Even the attempt to create a non-existing issue over the European Development Agency is desproportionate. The Commission has answered all the requests that have been submitted, and nobody but Duchians, who are not a source of universal truth -to me, that is our Lord Jesuschrist and his words- complained. Are they complaining because these problems are real, or because some of their projects got rejected? The whole situation feels like this meme I saw on the Internet, that I have decided to print and bring here for the sake of entertainment:

(Tusk gets the picture out and shows the meme)

Deputy Councillor, I will repeat what the real problem is: there are not enough candidates, there are not enough nations. Once more nations arrive to the region, you will see how the system will be back at work.

Donald Tusk
Council Speaker and Councillor for Spain

Czech Slavia

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your feedback, I believe this is very important for the future of our Union. Dear Councillor Hook, I have to say it would appear you fail to see the forest for the trees. We should focus on the functioning of the European Union as a whole and not restrict our view to one of its funds. To fail at this point in history to focus on the big picture is to miss historic opportunity for a revolutionary change necessary for the future.

Most dear Councillor Tilkanas and dear Council Speaker Tusk, you mention appointing an "emergency government". I would say that the EU has nothing that could be called a government. I take it, you are suggesting appointing an emergency Commission, correct me if I have misinterpreted your words. Council Speaker Tusk, you say that this would be legal could you point to us the precise text in a legislation you are referring to? As far as I understand, there is nothing of that sort.¨

Councillor Tilkanas you speak of certain extraordinary powers. I ask why not empower the Commission permanently, driving up interest in the institution and giving it a purpose, which it currently lacks?

I shall suggest few ideas of a direction of a reform:

Prolong the term of the Commissioners from 4 to 8 months. This would also serve to harmonize the terms of the Commissioners.
Abolish term limits for the Commissioners. After two served mandates the Commissioner shall have the possibility of expressing their interest seek re-election at least two months prior to the beginning of the election in front of the Council. If one Member State, from which at least one candidates for the mandate originates, objects to the continuation of said Commissioner, the Commissioner shall be deemed ineligible for re-election.
Reduce the number of seats in the European Court of Justice from 5 to 3 seats and prolong their mandate to 1 year. Abolish term limits.
Make presidency within the Court rotate after 4 months.
Abolish any rules preventing citizens of one member states to occupy the position of Premier Commissioner and Chief Justice at the same time.
Delegate drafting legislative proposals solely to the Commission.
Delegate amending legislative proposals and approving any legislation solely to the Council.
Make all representatives in the Council representatives of their governments.
Empower the Council to recall a Commissioner or the Commission as a whole.
Task the new Commission with meeting with the ministries of Member States to propose new legislation to facilitate easier movement of goods of reduce likelihood of any disruptions of the supply lines.

Sofie Čikarová
Councilor for Czech Slavia

BrumBrum

I thank the right honourable Čikarová for her proposals and would mostly agree with her proposals as a start. It is my understanding that James Mizrachi-Roscoe plans to unveil several proposals to make trade easier between EU countries including a potential opt in FTA zone and common standards for safety , copyright and quality standards to make it easier to move goods between markets with a lower need for checks. Alot of the ideas are ideas the Duchies has been proposing for a while and are glad a nation is finally also proposing simmilar ideas.

While these help in the issues of the commission not having time to achieve policies and fixing the constant change of direction and uncertainty I still believe we need to reform how agencies and not just the EDA are run giving them more freedom to operate and make decisions without constantly referring to the centre and having more local and regional teams handling funds and applications to make it far easier to apply for funds and hopefully make it more possible for states and organisations to apply for EU funds and also make it so that those with actual local expertise make the decisions for at least smaller proposals within a framework and guidelines of goals provided by the commissioners with an allocation of funding for each agency to be allocated to nations given to each nation based on population and possibly need based on economic wealth. I believe fixing the centralisation of so much of processes will take pressure off the comissioners enabling them to focus on general direction of the union rather than minutiae of proposals and policy effects in a country far from where they may have experience. I'd rather see the comissioners taking a more directing role than making all decisions for the EU leaving the more detailed and localised decisions of agencies to regional, sectoral and national experts who can better handle those decisions.We need reform in all areas for the EU to be effective.

Sky Hook , Councillour for United Duchies

Istkalen

I want to make a few things clearer: I proposed an emergency "government" - an emergency executive, let's put it that way now - and not specifically a Commission in order to allow for flexibility. I simply do not think it is wise to fix ourselves to the idea of a three-member executive, especially one that would hold such an important role - it may be necessary, for example, for an emergency administration to have four or five members, with overlapping portfolios, so that if one or two goes missing there are still others to perform the necessary duties, or, conversely, for it to have only one, to prevent gridlock.

In terms of my own, more concrete proposals for reform - reform which I believe, again, should be discussed after the resolution of the current crisis, whether within a convention or elsewhere - let me list them here:

The positions of Premier and Internal Affairs Commissioners shall be merged into a single, one-member Presidency, which will hold the power of the executive, the full power of the purse - that is, the power to create a budget that goes into effect if not vetoed by an independent motion that passes the European Council with a simple majority - the power of the suspensive veto, and the power to refer newly passed bills to the European Court of Justice to determine their constitutionality.
The President shall be elected by the Council for a term of one year, renewable indefinitely. Presidents may be ousted by a constructive vote-of-no-confidence, which may be initiated by any Councillor.
Regular legislation, and other resolutions, excluding those of impeachment, shall pass the Council so long as there does not exist a majority against it. Votes-of-no-confidence shall fail so long as there does not exist a majority against the sitting President; for votes of confidence, vice-versa.
The threshold for impeachment shall be lowered to 3/5 of Councillors present.

On most other points, I agree with Cllr. Čikarová.

Iras Tilkanas
Councillor for the Republic of Istkalen