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Brussels, 23.09.2003

Accept the Report
about a European Constitution !

What else ?

Declaration of the EUCDW Board

The Board of the European Union of Christian-Democratic Workers (EUCDW) welcomes the recently submitted parliamentary report about a constitution for Europe. The Convention has fulfilled its task of presenting a text which aims at the creation of a political union, which is easy to understand for the European citizens and which simplifies the decision-making structures within the European institutions.

This is indeed a step beyond the Europe of the internal market and serves simultaneously to prepare the Union for the forthcoming enlargement. Most of the objectives agreed by the European People's Party (EPP) at its congress in Estoril have been achieved. This is also a result of the excellent cooperation between the EPP group in the European Convention, the European People's Party and the EPP/ED Parliamentary group.

There obviously remain some aspects of the Convention's work - particularly in Part III - which could and should be subjected to a certain amount of criticism. These areas have been clearly identified in the parliamentary report now available and include, among others, the insufficiently consolidated policy of promoting economic and social coherence and the unresolved question of Europe's ability to act in solving cross-border social policy issues.
Yet the parliamentary report is right: It is far more important to maintain the draft text of the European Constitution as a whole - including a reference to our Judaic-Christian roots - instead of starting a never ending discussion about amendments in detail.

In the opinion of the EUCDW, a mere dismissal of the Convention's text in total - with reference to political principles - would not be reconcilable with the existing resolutions of either EPP and the EPP/ED Parliamentary group.



This is why the EUCDW requests unconditional support for the report submitted by José María Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado and Dimitris Tsatsos.

The European Union of Christian Democratic Workers (EUCDW) consists of 23 workers' organisations from 15 countries and is an association of the European People's Party (EPP).

responsible: Elmar Brok MEP, President.

EUCDW
European Union of Christian Democratic Workers
c/o EPP, Rue du Commerce / Handelsstraat 10
B-1000 Brussels
E-mail: EUCDW

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