Parliament's opinion concerning the draft treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

The European Parliament adopted a resolution endorsing the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and said it "wholeheartedly supports its ratification." The report by Richard CORBETT (PES, UK) and Inigo MENDEZ DE VIGO(EPP-ED, ES) was adopted by 500 votes in favour to 137 votes against, with 40 abstentions. (Please see the summary of 30/11/2004).

Parliament adopted an amendment announces its intention of using the new right of initiative conferred upon it by the Constitution to propose improvements to the Constitution.

It hoped that all Member States of the European Union will be in a position to achieve ratification by mid-2006.

Parliament went on to reiterates its request that all possible efforts be deployed in order to inform European citizens clearly and objectively about the content of the Constitution. Thee European institutions and the Member States are invited, when distributing the text of the constitutional Treaty to citizens (in unabridged or summary versions), to make a clear distinction between the elements already in force in the existing treaties and new provisions introduced by the Constitution, with a view to educating the public and informing the debate. Parliament invited them also to recognise the role of civil society organisations within the ratification debates and to make available sufficient support to enable such organisations to engage their constituencies in these debates across the EU in order to promote the active involvement of citizens in the discussions on ratification.