France and Germany agreed to a two-phased sequencing of reform at the Franco-German summit on 22 January 2023: (1) an IGC in terms of the simple method bridging the EU Core’s interests with the Danish-Swedish Group’s advocacy for a strengthening of democracy and the EU’s Global role. (2) A Convention ahead of the next enlargement in 2030 to Western Balkan.

France and Germany at long last also agreed to harmonize the debt calendars of the €urozone no later than in 2030 ahead of the next big bang, alluded to during Scholz’ Prague-speech of which I approve. It is understood this will be accompanied with the extending of the scope of majority voting to areas of taxation and technology. Thus, a deepening of integration will accompany the widing of EU, which is business as usual.

During the same summit, it was decided to set-down a working group – Le Groupe de Douze – which has now delivered  their report to Sailing on the High Seas: Reforming and enlarging the EU for the 21st Century to French and German Europe Ministers Boone and Lührman. The report’s focus areas are: (1) increasing the capacity to act (2) strengthening the rule of law and democratic legitimacy and (3) getting the European institutions enlargement ready, while recognizant of “the complexity of aligning Member States’ visions for the EU”.

The report envisages three phases: immediate measures ahead of European Parliament elections, IGC25 and the Convention pre-2030.

I agree on the need for an inter-institutional agreement both on the lead candidates and Parliament’s pilot project on transnational lists and a European circumscription as already endorsed by Macron and Scholz. After all, the Europeans want a government that represents all Europeans and which have an independent will.

A debate now begins. The new Danish government20-13 has offered to wrap-up treaty revisions during its EU Presidency in terms of an IGC2025.

What could be the elements of a common position amongst the European institutions and the member states ?

I propose the following elements:

  • Unitary structure, i.e., the merger of TEU and TFEU?
  • Integration of the Charter for Fundamental Human Rights into the Treaty with validity both within EU law and in national law
  • Extending the scope of majority voting and the co-decision procedure between the Council and Parliament, including to taxation and technology.
  • Treaty making of harmonizing the debt issuance calendars in the euro area around Italian, French, and German benchmarks, administered by an ECB debt management office.
  • Strengthening the powers of the EU President under TFEU222 so that the EU COM President can deploy EU soldiers whenever the EU is hit by terrorism or natural disasters[1].
  • Transferring the CFSP to the exclusive competence of the European Commission.
  • Provisions for a common arms export policy.
  • Codification of the status of lead candidates in the election of the President of the European Commission, and mentioning of the EU electoral act in the Treaty is the lex Europa regulating the transnational lists and European circumscription.
  • Strengthening the role of European parties and Member States’ parliamentary administrations.
  • Strengthening European citizenship (see link 2: http://www.yorku.ca/maas/Maas2014a.pdf —(LINK1: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4232168).
  • Desiderata from the Conference on Europe’s Future requiring treaty change.
  • Constitututional Dialogue Forum

[1] This idea was first conveyed to me by David Cameron at the occasion of the HCA award-ceremony to Salman Rushdie in Odense, Denmark, following the intervention of Helle Thorning Schmidt into the abuse of my attachment needs by PET on the pretext of investigating breach of document security of an unclassified EU document.